A Right Clanger of a Mistake

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to the New Year.  We had a lovely day round my daughter’s house and it was great to see the grandchildren opening their presents.  To me that is what Christmas is all about – the children.  It has lost all it’s sparkle and build-up since my own children left home as to me it is the children’s excitement that make Christmas what it is.  I think that when you work from home and rarely go shopping there isn’t the same anticipation of the time off working and you don’t see all the decorated shops playing Christmas music.  Now that I am only too pleased to miss as that is always accompanied by huge crowds and long queues.

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A couple of days ago I made a big clanger of a mistake.  I always open the bedroom windows during the day time and close them later in the day before we take the dogs for a walk.  This particular day we took the dogs a bit earlier as it was looking like it may rain so I closed the windows as usual but then opened them again when we got back as I felt they hadn’t been open that long.  Well about an hour or so later it started raining and we stood in the kitchen remarking on how it suddenly stated hammering it down and the wind was now so strong it was sending the rain almost sideways.  I never thought any more of it until I went upstairs half an hour later and realised the windows were still open.  No problem with that normally but the wind had caught one window and had blown it wide open (a big side window, not a small top window) and when I went over to close it I did expect to find water on the windowsill.  But I hadn’t expected to find the carpet all squelchy underfoot as I got to the window.  The wind must have been blowing it in at the exact angle to maximise the damage.  I swear you could never get that much in the window unless you had a hose pipe on it.  Everything anywhere near the window was drenched.  It had actually hit the wardrobe doors to at least waist height and four doors along – probably about 5 feet inside the room.  Needless to say the carpet in front of the wardrobe where it had been dripping down was even more saturated than the rest.  Many many towels later the carpet was just damp as hopefully I had sponged most of it before it has gone through to the underlay.  So no lasting damage but I just couldn’t believe how much water had come in that window at such an angle in such a short time to have saturated such a large area.

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As promised, I said I would show you my new Tarot Decks and Oracle Cards that have all been recently released in the UK.  Even my Baroque Bohemian Cats Tarot have arrived J  I received some bags I had ordered from Baba with the Bohemian Cats deck as well which are gorgeous – too good to use really.  Apart from this deck I bought all the others from Amazon.co.uk

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The Crystal Visions Tarot is by Jennifer Galasso.  This deck is brightly coloured with gorgeous pictures of fairies.  There are 78 cards picture cards (plus a title card) with a lovely patterned back in a conventional cardboard box and they are published by US Games.  The colours are stunning and this looks like a very interesting deck.

http://www.crystalvisionstarot.com/major.html

I pre-ordered The Baroque Bohemian Cats Tarot bundle direct from Baba Studio in Prague which included a full sized deck with a silk bag of my choice complete with a gilt edged mini deck with a silk bag which has a picture of The Tarot Reader card on the front.  Both the main deck and the mini deck come in a hinged fold-open type box which is unusual.  The decks are identical apart from the gilt edges on the mini deck but have different backs – the mini deck has a red and gold patterned back and the main deck has a totally different pattern in another shade of red and cream.  There are 79 picture cards as there is an “extra” card + a title card.  The bags are really good quality bags so well worth buying.  The deck is designed by Karen Mahoney and illustrated by Alex Ukolov who have produced several other well-known tarot decks, most of which are now sold out.  This is the 3rd edition of the Baroque Bohemian Cats Tarot.

http://baba-store.com/index.php?dispatch=categories.view&category_id=86

The Cat’s Eye Tarot is by Debra M Given DVM and is also produced by US Games.  The deck is in a normal cardboard box with 78 cards, a title card and a Nine Lives Spread card, as well as the usual Little White Book of instructions and meanings.  They are all picture cards of different cats following a theme of a particular colour cat for each suit.

http://www.usgamesinc.com/product.php?productid=1137&cat=0&page=1

The Oracle Deck that I bought is Woodland Wisdom which contains 29 really pretty fairy cards, a title card and an instruction booklet.  This deck is by Frances Munro and illustrated by Peter Pracownik.  This is also produced by US Games.  

http://www.usgamesinc.com/product.php?productid=1135&cat=0&page=1

This just gives you a little insight into the recent additions to my huge tarot collection.  The only other one I am waiting for now will not be out until at least February I think and that is The Gilded Tarot Royale by Ciro Marchetti.  I have all of his decks which are absolutely brilliant and I use the Gilded Tarot to do my tarot readings so I am really looking forward to receiving the Royale version which is much more of a 3D type version with a lot more depth and detail – a revised look J

http://www.ciromarchetti.com/ciromarchetti/Gilded_Tarot_-_Royale.html

Here is the usual trivia snippet:

"Almost" is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.

Followed by our usual chuckle to finish - I’ll keep it short as the post is so long so here are just a couple of those things that people REALLY said in court:     

Q: What is your date of birth?
A: July 15th.
Q: What year?
A: Every year.

Q: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
A: Gucci sweats and Reeboks.

p.s. I am feeling chuffed - it's the first time I have worked out how to wrap the text around the pictures a bit (and that was only by accident) - I am sure there must be a better way as it only happened for me by moving the photo to the right.  If anyone knows how to do it PLEASE let me know as the presentation looks much better. 

Mice and Men

We must have caught about 15 - 20 mice now but hopefully we are on top of the problem as it has been quiet today.  They are somehow living in between the ground floor and the bedrooms upstairs so we can hear them scampering across the ceilings when we are downstairs.  We have 7 traps that we are trying to catch them in and have them in various places in the garage (their only access point that we can find).  We cut a hole in the garage ceiling a put one up there with a piece of string attached as they tend to ping out of reach when they go off – that one has been quite successful.  We pulled one of the kitchen spot lights down and put a trap up there on a piece of string as well but we haven’t caught anything with that one.  Cheese still seems the favourite mouse snack especially if it has crunchy peanut butter on it.  A friend said about chocolate but so far we haven’t tried that as we haven’t been anywhere to get any chocolate since she told us.  It seems such a waste of good chocolateJ

I am not sure if there is a bigger problem than normal this year with mice getting into houses or it is just that when you have a problem and mention it others also tell you about their mouse problem.  Everyone we seem to have mentioned it to either has a problem themselves or knows someone else who has.  Maybe nature is making them come in this winter after the harsh winter we had last year.

I was talking earlier in the week about my husband not putting his phone on very often. Yesterday was a classic example.  He had an acupuncture appointment and I need to have a blood test and an x-ray so we decided I would go along with him at the same time.  He duly dropped me off at the South Wing of the hospital and went on to the North Wing for his treatment, thinking I would be longer waiting in the queues for the tests than his treatment would take.  Well I was all done and out before his appointment was even due - apparently it is always quite quiet for blood tests in the school holidays - I have no answer to why that should be though.  Anyway I sat reading for a while after texting him to say I was ready.  I went outside about 10 minutes after his appointment should have ended thinking he would be picking me up soon.  Ages later he still hadn't arrived so I rang him - straight to answerphone!  Finally he walked over from the car park to see if I was around yet as he hadn't heard from me.  He hadn’t bothered to try to ring me!  We obviously discussed something might be wrong with his phone and if he had it switched on which he assured me he had, so when we got home I got him to look at it and guess what – the battery had run out which he said must have been after he put it in his pocket when he had switched it on.  Must be coincidence though as mine would bleep me straight away to show a text or a missed call so I am wondering if he ever did actually remember to turn it on???

You wont believe it but since getting this ready to post earlier in the day our mouse problem is back!  When we came back from the dog walk one of the cats was intently checking out a place under one of the kitchen units!  After intensive investigation we found that all the kitchen cupboards are completely sealed apart from the one under the sink.  There is no food in there and even food scraps don’t go into the bin in there as our county has a waste food recycle bin.  The cupboards did get a good searching and a rearranging though to make sure there were no signs that any mice had been in there.  But the traps in the garage had caught 2 again so out problem is not over – they have just been quieter than normal!

Today’s snippet of useless information:

A duck's quack doesn't echo and no one knows why.

Hopefully these will produce a little laugh today:

These are real comments made in courts:

Q: "Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice which I sent to your attorney?"
A: "No, this is how I dress when I go to work."

Q: "Doctor, how many autopsies have you performed on dead people?"
A: "All my autopsies are performed on dead people."

Q: "All your responses must be oral, OK? What school did you go to?"
A: "Oral."

Q: "Do you recall the time that you examined the body?"
A: "The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m."
Q: "And Mr. Dennington was dead at the time?"
A: "No, he was sitting on the table wondering why I was doing an autopsy."

Q: "You were not shot in the fracas?"
A: "No, I was shot midway between the fracas and the naval."

Q: "Are you qualified to give a urine sample?"
A: "I have been since early childhood."

Q: "Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?"
A: "No."
Q: "Did you check for blood pressure?"
A: "No."
Q: "Did you check for breathing?"
A: "No."
Q: "So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?"
A: "No."
Q: "How can you be so sure, doctor?"
A: "Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar."
Q: "But could the patient have still been alive nevertheless?"
A: "It is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law somewhere."

It's the Winter Solstice tonight.

It’s the Winter Solstice tonight - well actually at 5.30 a.m. in the morning so this is officially the shortest day – thank goodness for that as it is so dull and depressing when we get such short daylight hours especially when the weather is not bright, as we have to put the lights on even earlier in the day.  So many people these days suffer from SAD when they can’t cope with the lack of daylight.  For people who work in places that have artificial lights on all day some people only see a very short span of daylight on their way to work or in their lunch break.

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The Winter Solstice goes by unnoticed these days by the majority of people but is celebrated by the more “earthly spiritual” religions and groups.  Yule, as it is also known, is widely celebrated by Pagans, Druids, Celts etc. and is a significant festival in the Wiccan calendar.  Many other countries also celebrate the Winter Solstice.  It is a celebration of the sun being reborn.  Many travel to monumental sites like Stonehenge to celebrate, where the sun lines up through the stones on the Summer and Winter Solstices.

I have now received all 3 of the Tarot decks and the Oracle deck I ordered and I am really pleased with all of them.  The Crystal Visions Tarot has to be my favourite – the bright colours really draw the eye and are dramatic.  The Cat’s Eye Tarot is also a really interesting deck.  The other one I bought is the Joie de Vivre Tarot with very whimsical pictures.  The Oracle Deck is Wonderland Wisdom which are cards with fairies on.  I will go into a little more detail on these lovely Tarot decks another time.  I have also been told by Baba Store that the 3^rd edition of the Baroque Bohemian Cats Tarot Decks are on their way to me too so I look forward to receiving them.

My trivia snippet for you:

Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise.
(Since Venus is normally associated with women, what does this tell you!)
(That women are going the 'right' direction...?)

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Lastly a little chuckle for you:

These were real questions and answers in court:

Q: "So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?"
A: "Yes."
Q: "And what were you doing at that time?"

Q: "She had three children, right?"
A: "Yes."
Q: "How many were boys?"
A: "None."
Q: "Were there any girls?"

Q: "You say the stairs went down to the basement?"
A: "Yes."
Q: "And these stairs, did they go up also?"

Q: "Mr. Slatery, you went on a rather elaborate honeymoon, didn't you?
A: "I went to Europe, sir."
Q: "And you took your new wife?"

Q: "How was your first marriage terminated?"
A: "By death."
Q: "And by whose death was it terminated?"

Q: "Can you describe the individual?"
A: "He was about medium height and had a beard."
Q: "Was this a male or female?"

Are you ready yet?

How are your plans for Christmas going – have you got all your presents sorted and sent all your cards?  Are you stocked up for food for the holidays or do you shop at the last minute?  I hate the crowds so shop online if I can for presents to save having to join the throngs of Christmas shoppers – the busy aisles in all the shops is bad enough but the queues for the checkouts is unbearable.  I just stopped doing it years ago.  I used to buy presents early and put them away.  The only trouble with that is I often forgot where I had put the things so had to buy something else, only to find the missing present in January!  That happened to me a few timesJ   

Luckily we don’t have to buy many presents or think of many to buy either.  The children tend to prefer money with just a small gift to open on the day if we are seeing them and my daughter lets me know what the grandchildren want, so all I have to do is order the presents rather than search for something.  My husband and I don’t buy each other a present and if we want something for the house we buy that, but otherwise we just don’t bother.

I have been really late in doing everything this year it seems and so have been really busy this last week with getting out jewellery orders and catching up with Christmas stuff.  LOL – you would never guess, would you, by my lack of blogs this weekJ  We did our supermarket shopping at the end of last week to avoid the crowds but the trouble is when you buy extra tasty food for the Christmas period so early you just have to start sampling it early!  I finally finished posting the cards on the last day for 2^nd class postage and yet usually I get them written in the 1^st week of December.  I have no explanation other than I can honestly say I am a Google+ addict now and hours just disappear when I am on there.  I am not very good at prioritising the important things.  Jewellery comes first and other things should come 2^nd followed by the internet.  But you know how it is, I go on there just to check there are no more jewellery orders and the next thing I realise is that it is 2 hours later and my other things just get left until later or the next day.

Usually it is something for the grandchildren that I am surfing around online for as it is so popular that everywhere has sold out, but this year I had a problem with my daughters present.  She had said about a particular perfume she had liked that a friend of hers uses and I thought I would get some for her to open on Christmas day.  Little did either of us know that it was not being made any more.  She wanted Lauren Style perfume by Ralph Lauren and I tried everywhere online – some annoying shops looked like they had it in stock until you went to put it in your basket and only then did it say they were out of stock.  I spent ages looking everywhere in the UK.  I don’t know if they still had it anywhere else but there wasn’t enough time to get it over here for Christmas even if there was some stock somewhere.  I may have to investigate that after Christmas and if I find any I could put it away for her birthday (LOL – and try not to forget where I put it).  After spending so long looking now though I will postpone that chore until after New Year I think.  I have bought her some skinny jeans now so I will just keep my fingers crossed that they are ok -  she had also mentioned them so it should be alright as long as they arrive in time.  All I really have left to do now is the wrapping which shouldn’t take too long this year.

Today’s snippet of useful / useless information:

The first owner of the Marlboro Company died of lung cancer.   So did the first 'Marlboro Man'.

The three most valuable brand names on earth:   Marlboro, Coca Cola, and Budweiser, in that order.

Lastly a little joke for the day:

WOMEN'S REVENGE
'Cash, check or charge?' I asked, after folding items the woman wished to purchase.
As she fumbled for her wallet, I noticed a remote control for a television set in her purse.
'So, do you always carry your TV remote?' I asked.
'No,' she replied, 'but my husband refused to come shopping with me, and I figured this was the most evil thing I could do to him legally.'

Stickers that wont come off.

I was round my daughters the other day and my granddaughter had got some stickers that came with a cake.  While us adults were talking her Dad realised she was sticking them all over the kitchen.  Now my daughter is very houseproud and so he told my granddaughter very quietly that she needed to stick them on something other than the walls, kitchen units, oven etc. but when he went to get them off without my daughter noticing they wouldn’t come off!  The one she had stuck on the wall took the paint off with it (which as a custom colour – oops).  At this point my granddaughter got upset and started crying because there was not a white patch on the wall.  Her dad was trying to scratch one off the oven and that wouldn’t come off, then he spotted one on the granite worktop which my daughter is constantly wiping clean and it is always spotless.  He tried to surreptitiously scratch it off before my daughter spotted it and went bananas.  But in the end she noticed and surprisingly didn’t get too annoyed – she probably hadn’t realised how permanent the stickers seemed to be.  We left shortly afterwards so I hope they managed to get them off and get some more paint made up in the right colour to cover the patch.  I will ring her tomorrow when it has died down a bit and see how they got on.

I like to post my jewellery orders the following day (the same day if they are early enough) but the last post in our village goes at 4 p.m. so most times the orders go the next day.  Yesterday I was getting the orders ready and it was dull and raining but then the sun came out so I made use of the opportunity to finish a custom bracelet and get it photographed while it was still bright – it was only 2.30 so I thought there would be plenty of time to just finish packaging the orders afterwards.

So far so good.  I finished the bracelet and sent the photos then got back to the packaging – still bright outside so that was ok.  I got myself and the dogs ready for the walk and as I got up the drive it started spitting with rain.  Now this was not good especially as I hadn’t done my coat up and had 2 dog leads as well as carrying the parcels.  By the time I had only walked past about 4 houses it started tipping with rain.  I tried struggling with the zipper on my coat but to no avail as I just had too much in my hands.  Well I can most definitely say that by the time I got to the post office I was soaking wet as the wind was blowing towards me too.  As soon as I had the chance I zipped up my coat for the return journey but by the time we got back the rain was dripping off my hair and the dogs were dripping wet too.  So much for making the most of the sun for photographs!

I have had a run on bracelets lately.  I have always made bracelets and earrings as well as pendants but pendant are my main thing which is why I called my jewellery Pendant-Heaven but it seems funny lately that I have had so many people buying bracelets.  I have found the trend at the moment is for the big beaded bracelets as the Pandora bracelets seem to be “in” but are so expensive for what they are so people are looking for alternative cheaper ones.  It’s funny how trends change – it is now big bead bracelets and simple gemstone pendants on a necklace with no beads.

Today’s trivia snippet:

Oak trees do not produce acorns until they are fifty (50) years of age or older.

And lastly today’s chuckle:

Easy Fake Cheese Bread Recipe

Now don’t switch off now if you don’t like marmite as there are alternatives below.  But I mentioned the marmite scone/bread in my last blog and I was going to tell you about it and give you the recipe.  I did manage to get a photo of the last little bit of the 1^st loaf to show you and I took the 2^nd one out of the freezer for you to see (but I did cut it into slices before I froze it as seen in the baking tin photo).  I never think to take pictures of anything as I haven’t really got quite into that “take photos of everything” scenario, probably because I don’t make a Smartphone and although my mobile phone does take photos I can only keep them on the phone itself and can’t transfer them because I don’t pay a monthly fee for my phone, so I have no way of transferring them to the computer or even sending them to anyone. 

This is the background of the recipe.  When the next door neighbour went on a breadmaking course he came back with all these recipes and one of them was to make cheese and marmite bread.  Anyway he made two of the marmite and cheese loaves and gave one to me – well it was nice but it would have been better to have just made a plain loaf and let me spread the marmite on it as usual.  The marmite hadn’t mixed in with the bread so it had big holes in as he had spread the marmite on and rolled it into the bread.  Consequently when you cut it the slice looked like a jam roly poly or swiss roll.  But it also left a gap in the bread presumably where the marmite didn’t adhere to the other side.  Well I obviously set him a challenge because he has now found it works better if he mixes the marmite in with the water in the recipe before making the bread.  So this is how we came to adapt this recipe.

My husband has been trying his hand at breadmaking too (after a one day course with the next door neighbour showing him his newly learned skills) and he happened to see this recipe that doesn’t follow the usual method as it has no yeast so doesn’t need to rise.  He made it with cheese, ham and chives as per the recipe and it was lovely – but I would call it more of a scone taste than a bread taste.  It’s like scone loafJ  Well he decided to try this recipe by dissolving some marmite in the water (as in next door’s bread recipe) but he also substituted marmite cheddar for the mature cheddar.  It came out really nice but the taste was still quite mild so next time he will try 2 teaspoons of marmite dissolved in the water instead of just one and go back to the mature cheddar cheese instead to make the whole taste stronger. 

So depending upon how strong you want the marmite and the cheese taste, you can just adapt the recipe with stronger or milder cheese and with more or less marmite dissolved in the water.  But if you are one of those people who can’t stand marmite you can still make the recipe with just cheese or with the other flavourings.  I know marmite is one of those things that people either love or hate with a vengeance (my husband hates it so the marmite version will be made only for me). 

Fake Cheese Bread          (see below for alternative flavourings)

425g Self Raising Flour

150g Grated Mature Cheese (save ¼ for the topping)

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

½ teaspoon Fine Sea Salt

1 teaspoon Mustard Powder

1 teaspoon Paprika

½ teaspoon Black Pepper

200ml Warm Water (dissolve at least 1 teaspoon of Marmite – add more to taste)

Pre-heat oven to 200c / 400f

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, saving ¼ of the cheese for the topping.

Form into 2 long rolls and deeply slash the tops 4 or 5 times.

Push remaining cheese into the slashes and spread over the top.

Place in 2 medium pre-greased baking tins and cook for a full 30 – 40 minutes.

Cover with foil or greaseproof paper if top browns too soon.

This recipe can also be adapted by adding these for a savoury bread:

6 slices of Ham chopped into ½” squares.

½ bunch Chives chopped into ½” lengths.

Here is today’s trivia snippet:

In a pack of cards did you know the King of Hearts is the only king WITHOUT A MOUSTACHE?

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Lastly, we have todays chuckles:

The teacher asked Little Johnny, 

"Can you tell me the name of 3 great kings who have brought happiness and peace into people's lives?

Little Johnny answered:
"Drin-king, smo-king, and bon-king".

My Early Night...!

What a memory!  I was laying in bed last night and couldn’t sleep and I thought of something I wanted to write about in my blog today – but can I remember it today – not a chance!  I know it is age and hormone related but it gets so frustrating when you want to remember something and then it just goes completely from you mind – it’s not even like it is “on the tip of your tongue” as they say – it is just totally behind a closed door.  As for names of things….well just forget it (well yes I do literally).

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I have been up so late recently just doing things on the internet etc. especially on Google+ and the time just zooms by – I don’t usually feel tired but notice the time and think I had better go to bed when I have just finished this  But then of course I get involved doing something else as well and notice it is an hour later! 

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So last night I thought I would go to bed earlier.  Right no problem there – I can be strong and just switch the computer off at a certain time and go to bed.  Yep – I was very good and kept to my decision.  I duly got ready for bed, settled in and then just lay there.  Well instead of my usual thing of going to sleep in a few minutes I just laid there fully awake……for ages. 

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I tried meditating – that usually sends you to sleep if you do it when you are tired.  Nope – still awake.  Then I started feeling a bit cold – so reached for the bedsocks beside my bed and pulled them on – still a bit cold so tucked pyjamas bottoms into them – now looked like I was going for a bike ride but no-one would see them under the quilt.  Then I decided I felt a bit strange – oo-er am I coming down with something more than my cold?  About this time my leg started twitching and that guarantees I wont get to sleep while that is happening so I did some leg exercises. 

By now I have decided I needed a wee so got up and went to the bathroom and did some standing leg exercises afterwards as well to get rid of the twitch (restless leg syndrome as it is known) before I got back into bed. 

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I still couldn’t sleep and noticed that my tummy was rumbling so though ah-ha digesting food makes you sleep as you always feel tired after dinner.  So off I trotted down to the kitchen and cut myself a slice of cheese and marmite bread/scone (will tell you about that in a minute) which disturbed the dogs who were thinking it must be morning as I had got up (well it was 2 hours later by now) and the cat started scratching the kitchen door to try to attract my attention to go out into the utility room to feed her.  I duly ignored them all and went back up to bed and can only guess that eating helped or my body finally needed sleep by now (not that I felt tired) because I finally got to sleep about 3 hours after I had originally got into bed.  So my early night ended up being a very late night and I would have been better off just staying on the internet.

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Ooh I said I would tell you about the bread/scones – well looking back this is so long I had better tell you about them next time and give you the recipe as well ( I had better try and get a photo while there is still some left as long as I am quick).

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Here is some trivia for today:

Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes or shark attacks.

(So, watch your Ass!)

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Lastly here is something to make you chuckle I hope:

A husband read an article to his wife about how many words women use a day.
“30,000 to a man's 15,000!” he said.
The wife replied, “The reason has to be because we have to repeat everything to men...”
The husband carried on reading for a while and then turned to his wife and asked, 'What?'

Little or Nothing Today

Today’s post is a sprinkle of everything so just a news blog really – I don’t seem to do many of those but as I had nothing definite in my head to chat about today I will just keep you up to date on my life at the moment.

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Ooh I‘ve got a cold – the first one for a long long time – sniff sniff.  So I have no qualms about spending my time being on the computerJ  I am “resting” and looking after myself – or that is my excuse anyway.

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Yippee - I am pleased that I have had confirmation that 4 of the tarot decks I pre-ordered are on their way, with just one left (Crystal Visions) that has still not been released in the UK yet – not long now I hope.  I have heard that the Baroque Bohemian Cats Tarot that I pre-ordered is also coming into stock and some have been sent out now so with a bit of luck I may be one of those who get them early.  I am also looking forward to when the new Ciro Marchetti deck comes out in February.  Tarot decks must be like CD’s – they release them in December so that everyone buys them for Christmas presents.  Then we get all the “best of” CD’s and the Christmas song CD’s too!

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Oooh dear - we still have an ongoing mouse problem with hearing the occasional mouse running along the ceiling downstairs as they seem to be able to get between the two floors but they obviously aren’t cheese lovers as we haven’t caught any for a week now although we have still heard one about.

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I have been busy this week getting jewellery Christmas presents out to buyers – it is the time of year that buyers are either buying for themselves for upcoming parties or are buying presents for friends and relatives.  It is surprising how the last guaranteed posting dates spring up on us.

So here are some thoughts for you today:

MARRIAGE
A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn't.

A man marries a woman expecting that she won't change and she does.

DRESSING UP
A woman will dress up to go shopping, water the plants, empty the garbage, answer the phone, read a book, and get the mail.

A man will dress up for weddings and funerals.

NATURAL
Men wake up as good-looking as they went to bed.

Women somehow deteriorate during the night

OFFSPRING
Ah, children. A woman knows all about her children. She knows about dentist appointments and romances, best friends, favorite foods, secret fears and hopes and dreams.

A man is vaguely aware of some short people living in the house.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Any married man should forget his mistakes.

There's no use in two people remembering the same thing.

My friend Kathy on Google+ made a great Christmassy picture out of my avatar photo so I thought I would show you:

Why don’t children want toys for Christmas any more?

When did it all change?  Why do children now shun toys in favour of computer games and dvd’s?  Apparently they are now too old for toys by their 7^th birthday!!! Er – shouldn’t that be at the peak of their playing with toys age when they are now able to handle the lego bricks etc. with dexterity and use their imagination to make things with meccano, play games with cars and dolls etc.???  When did children become teenagers at 7 years old?  They used to reach double figures in their age before they were too old for toys.

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I know times have changed a lot and children no longer seem to play outdoor games like skipping, ball games, chasing etc. because they can’t play out in the street any more or go to the park on their own but we do still have back gardens in this more modern society so why don’t they ever want to play in the garden any more?  Don’t get me wrong – they do sometimes play in the back garden but given the choice they would probably be happier watching television or playing computer games.  Also the age that they are happy in the garden seems to have dropped to about five or six years old. 

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Not only don’t they seem to play in the gardens, but they don’t seem to want to play with actual toys any more.  Any toys that they do want are only played with for a very short time before being ignored for the pull of the video games and dvd’s.  Some toys are classed as 6+ because they are too intricate and complicated for younger children so I suppose these types of construction toys will just die out completely.

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Most houses with families seem to have the television on from the moment they get up in the morning until they go to bed at night and it is only turned off when the last person leaves the house or goes to bed.  Well it is obviously not just houses with children as often the television is constantly on in any house but the most disturbing thing is that it has become “the norm” to have the television on in the background permanently whether anyone is watching it or not.  The children get distracted from any other play just because it is on.  But in most cases they will watch their favourite dvd or play a computer game many times a day rather than indulge in any play with actual toys. 

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It is so much easier for parents to just let the children watch television, dvd’s or play computer games than to bother playing with the children themselves or have the children playing noisily with toys.  Plus of course putting a few dvd’s away at the end of the day is a lot easier than clearing up a lot of toys and there are no arguments with the children about putting their toys away.

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Most children these days have their own television and dvd player in their bedroom and go to sleep watching a dvd instead of having a bedtime story and lights out.  How do parents know how much sleep little Johnny has if they leave a 2 hour dvd playing?  How do they even know he doesn’t get up and put another one on when it finishes?  More importantly, how do children learn to go to sleep by just closing their eyes and laying there until they fall asleep?  Are they all going to grow up to have to have the television on to be able to go to sleep?

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I know I am sounding like an old grandma now but “it was different in my day” as we used to play outside all the time and play with toys all day if it was wet or it was too late to play outside.  When my own children were young they played in each others gardens and with toys indoors, as the only children’s television programmes on at all were a 15 minute one at lunch time for the pre-school children, then a 15 minute one at tea time for the young ones followed by 30 minutes for the slightly older children and lastly 30 minutes for the older children and that was it.  Oh and there was a Saturday morning programme for the slightly older children.  Computer games were around for my older children but not really that interesting until my youngest was old enough to play them.

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Apart from turning the kids into couch potatoes, what are we doing to their minds when they can’t interact and act out scenarios with toys.  Imagination will disappear along with the toys.  Even baby and toddler toys are now all electronic gadgets rather than just building bricks, soft toys, shapes etc. There are very few toy shops left these days as no-one wants toys any more.  Apart from toys for toddlers, will toys disappear for ever – no more pretend toys, building toys?  Will toy cars and dolls become a thing of the past and only be seen in museums? 

Here’s today trivia snippet:

Dentists have recommended that a toothbrush be kept at least six (6) feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush.  

(I keep my toothbrush in the living room now!)

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Followed by today’s chuckle:

UNDERSTANDING WOMEN  (A MAN'S PERSPECTIVE)
I know I'm not going to understand women.
I'll never understand how you can take boiling hot wax, pour it onto your upper thigh, rip the hair out by the root, and still be afraid of a spider.