Musicovery

This evening I signed up to StumbleUpon again and the first site I Stumbled was this one and I listened to a track I haven't listened to for YEARS!

It seems to be a very friendly way to discover music depending on what mood you are in...

All you do is choose a region on the remote control and it chooses some music for you...and when the first track has finished it goes onto the next one on the swirly map and so on...there seems to be plenty of music on there to listen to and well worth a long play...Whilst the free version is lo-fi there is the option to listen to CD quality for 9.99 Euros p.a. !
Perhaps this could be a contender for Jonny's Got 5 minutes blog...

Decorating the hall....finished at last!

I took the opportunity of Peter being away to finish decorating the hall...It's really hard to believe that I no longer have to look at green patch of wall anymore! The hall has been a work in progress since I was pregnant and stalled when Sunshine arrived....and as Sunshine is now 15 months old it has taken a while to get the last two difficult bits up (that's the bit which goes behind the radiator!)

Anyway, it's done now and as long as no-one looks too closely at it I'm happy...

Blogger Beta...

...I was a bit daft and I migrated my blog to Sunshine's profile...so all my posts seem to be posted by Sunshine...This is a bit frustrating!!Finally I managed to add myself as an admin so it seems now that I can post as myself...

The new features seem to be quite good...if only I hadn't been so daft in the migration, I mean fancy letting Sunshine be in control of my blog! Well, I suppose she might actually post more than me!

Late Autumn Break

We spent the last 10 days at the villa in Portugal...A lovely relaxing family break. Sunshine was brilliant...she slept on the plane going out which meant that she was full of beans when we arrived. It was a little cloudy when we arrived and we had some fun and games with Hertz and the car seats...that's a whole long saga...Anyway, the sun soon came out and we had a few hot days over the first weekend...and then the heavens opened! A couple of days of storminess was fine - it was worse overnight and the pool certainly benefited....any more and it would turn into an infinity pool!

Our visits to Portugal are a bit of a lazy affair, so there is not much to say...we ate chicken piri-piri, pastais de natas, empada da galinha...Peter drank lots of bicas (short expresso)...lots of Port and plenty of Esplanada (a rather lovely regional wine)!
Sunshine seems to enjoy eating everything, although we didn't give her any piri-piri!!
We took Peter's mum with us and so we took the opportunity to go to our favourite restaurant once Sunshine had gone to bed. It was lovely to walk down to the village in the balmy evening, enjoy a lovely meal and a couple of Drambui's (in honour of Sunshine). Lucky for us Sunshine had been sleeping very well and didn't even seem to notice..!
The plane home wasn't quite as easy as going out, but BA did benefit from a bit of panel 'decorating', and Sunshine decided to go to sleep just as we were landing, which was a bit frustrating! Still she is a star most of the time!
Sunshine has posted some photos and if you are a Flickr friend or family there are some more here...

And just to even things up a bit....

Preserving Photos

Sunshine has taken to demanding to see Peter's school photos whenever
we go to his Mum's house, so it was decided that we should make some
copies to preserve the originals....I think we can see where Sunshine
gets some of her looks from....

On the Schmap

A little while ago Jonny got Schmapped for Manchester....I've been Schmapped now too! For Plymouth....although the fish (and Peter and Sunshine) are the real stars!

You can see the selected photos here...or by downloading the guide...the photos selected werre a couple I took in the Aquarium!

Sweden

The last couple of weeks have been a bit mad for me and even more so for Peter....I have spent the bulk of the fortnight in Uppsala, Sweden for work. This means of course that Peter has had to resume the role of primary care giver for Sunshine! Fortunately I was home for her birthday...it just wouldn't do to miss her first one after all!

The first week was providing some training and the second in project workshops. This last week was livened up by the presence of collegues from the UK and some guys from the US...One of whom enjoyed riding around Uppsala in the middle of the night meeting the locals!

Uppsala is a lovely city and has a huge cathedral and loads of places to eat...we had Indian, Thai, Greek and on Thursday evening made a train trip into Stockholm...This was definately a GREAT idea! The train took around 40 minutes adnd after a temn minute walk we arrived at Mårten Trotzig. I don;t think I have enough words in my vocabulary to descrie he food but it was fan-bloody-tastic!! A little out of my normal price range, but absolutely fab! I had a salad to start and then the Reindeer....it was soooooooo tender that it melted on your tongue!

It was hard not to gobble it down in one go! The portion size was perfect...and wow! (I was hoping to post a picture...perhaps if I get the promised mailing....) If you are ever in Stockholm...GO THERE! :) I think that this has to be my highlight of the trip!

After dinner we went to the Glenfiddich Warehouse where not being a single malt kinda gal, I had a rather lovely cognac Gronstedt I think it was...I didn't have very much as it was charged for by the cl...! downtown Stockholm is not the cheapest place to be drinking single malts or cognac!! There are some pictures here...

Apparently it has been unseasonably warm in Sweden this month which was lucky as I can't quite get to my winter clothes at the moment - although this will need to change in the next couple of weeks!!

After months of quietness with work, it was lovely to have something to get my teeth into...nice to get out of the house and see the world, but even better to get home to Peter and Sunshine again!

Going for Green

After reading Mandy's post I got to thinking about making small changes around our home...I started with a Biocare bathroom cleaner (all natural ingredients including Tea Tree oil) which smells lovely! Then when the dettox ran out in the kitchen I went for a 'green' cleaner which for some reason had Anthony Worrall Thomson all over it...The next change was the dishwasher tablets....we're now using Ecover tablets and they clean the dishes just as well as other brands and smell quite nice too!
Finally, I stumped up the cash for some Ecoballs and after using them for a few washes in one day I am quite impressed...I'm not sure how they'll cope with Sunshine's orange food stains...but I guess I can always fall back on the regular powder and Vanish!!

oh, and I was really surprised at how big they are!

Make hay while the sun shines...

...well I guess that's what happened in our garden last Thursday...It used to look like this...

...and now it looks like this....

Now I feel I'm on a level playing field (so to speak) and can get on and do something with our outdoor space....although it'll have to cool down a bit first!

I hasten to add that I didn't actually do the work myself...just had someone in to do it!

Having fun at Roberts BBQ

Originally uploaded by reggiek

Robert is Forever 29

Our friend Robert was 30 at the weekend (although he said he's going to stay 29 forever...) He had a BBQ and it was good fun. We hadn't seen him since his wedding last year so it was lovely to catch up (and to introduce Sunshine to everyone who met her as a bump!) Robert has posted some photos here. Sunshine had a great time and loved Peter's ginger beer!

Music Videos From the 80's

I'm not afraid to say it! I do love 80's music! my sister tipped me off about this site.....I've only looked at a couple of videos...but it brings those 80's memories back!

Wedding, Work and Water(y things)

I seem to be getting more and more rubbish at updating my blog...anyway,a few things have happened since my last post...there was Harry and Marianthi's Greek wedding for starters - Jonny did an excellent post regarding this and I can;t even attempt to top it! Just a note...it was fantastic and Peter and I were out two days less than everyone else :(. Sunshine in the meantime went to stay with my Mum whilst we were away.
I finally started work again last week and after a day of slight weirdness, it all seemed a bit normal. I must admit I'm a little rusty on a lot of things but I'm sure I'll be up to speed again soon! Thank you to Jonny and Mandy who looked after/put up with (delete as appropriate) two out of the three nights I was in Altrincham!
This last weekend there was a family gathering in Plymouth to celebrate 90th, 60th and 30th birthdays which was fun...a long trip and we were a bit worried how Sunshine would cope with it all - but no need! She was a star! Fortunately the weather was fab so we managed to wander around the Hoe, have a cream tea and go to the National Marine Aquarium. The aquarium has changed a bit since we last went in 2000 but we all enjoyed it. It's scary to think that it was 16 years ago that I first went to Plymouth...so much seems to have changed...old haunts converted into upmarket estabishments, the invasion of the pub chains into the Barbican. Fortunately Cap'n Jaspers is still there....although a Jasperizer is probably a bit much for breakfast! There's more Plymouth photos here

Rice pudding

I must admit I've never been a fan of rice pudding but Peter is and I decided that this weekend I would make one and introduce Sunshine to the delights. It was much easier than I thought, in fact I must confess that it was actually 'Big Cook Little Cook' which gave me the idea...
Anyway, the cooking went well and I managed not to burn it; once it had cooled a little Peter had a taste and I had a hard job getting him to leave some for today! Sunshine tried some at lunchtime but didn't seem too keen...but couldn't seem to get enough after her nap!
I'm not sure if it was just because Peter was finishing it off with some double cream...

I've just started cooking another one, so perhaps there may be some left for Sunshine to take to Mums this week.....?! Oh and I did try a bit myself and I was surprised to find it not unpleasant!

Blurfection

I've found the perfect Flickr group for me and my blurry photos....although mine are generally blurry more by luck than judgement! :) Of course I'll only add the photos I think are worthy of viewing by others...hopefully it'll work out ok!

For cloud lovers everywhere...The Cloud Appreciation Society

I got onto this after watching BBC Breakfast (must be slow news week) this morning and having a preview of some of the fantastic cloud formations.

And here's one of mine...

May Update

It's been a while since I last posted mainly because there hasn't been too much to report. I'm back at home now which is great. It was nice staying with my mum (thanks mum!) but it's even better to be home. Sunshine has started going to her childminder - which is how I'm managing to be at home otherwise I would still be with my mum! Sunshine seems to be quite happy with the arrangements although I'm sure there will be days when she isn't! Life has improved dramatically since my op and I'm looking forward to the summer and being able to pick Sunshine up...it'll also make it easier for me to take her to meet friends! The physio is going well and I actually managed to drive myself to the hospital on Monday which is brilliant. I am now mobile! Peter is worried that I'll spend too much in the shops...but he needn't worry too much as I wouldn't be able to carry the bags!
This week I am dead impressed with Snapfish! I made an order yesterday morning and the photos arrived this morning in the post!

Doggy Discectomy

Last night's telly viewing included Super Vets on BBC 1 (mainly because finding the remote was too much effort for all...) and to my surprise my Mum wasn't worried (Which is a surprise as she refuses to watch hospital programs!)about Tommy having an operation on his back....a doggy discectomy if you will. Whilst I hadn't lost the use of my hind legs, I guess the procedure is the same...pretty much! :s Anyway, that is probably as close to an operating theatre any of us want to get...:D

Pandora

I was flicking throught the Observer Music Monthly and I saw a letter from a 14 year old who uses Pandora.com to broaden her listening repertoire, so I thought I'd try it out myself...I started off with The Barenaked Ladies and then added Wagon Christ and Nelly Furtado so a broad mix of music was selected for me using data collected by The Music Genome Project...It seems like a fab way of introducing yourself to different artists, you can save favorites, publish the faves to your blog, share the station and even buy the music from iTunes...It is definately worth playing with more when I get my laptop back (I only managed a quick play tonight).

Something for 'Got five minutes...' perhaps?

Supposing ... Computers are deliberately wasting our time

I just read this on the Back page of yesterdays G2 and I thought that it was quite true...

Reading Material

Recently I've been able to concentrate on a bit of reading, when I haven't been doing floor exercises and amusing Sunshine, and I have managed to complete 2 books...'The Reading Group' by Elizabeth Noble and 'The Conjuror's Bird' by Martin Davis. I thoroughly enjoyed the latter it was a good mystery/light adventure story and well worth a read on a summer holiday or the such like. The Reading Group was a bit more heavy going in respect of the emotional content of the book...although it just could have been the drugs which made it hard to read!!
I'm about to start 'A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian' by Marina Lewycka...hopefully this will be a good read too!

Norfolk Sunset

There was a fantastic sunset on Saturday night

and so I had fun with some raindrops...
there are some more here

Un-stapled

My clips came out this afternoon..so hopefully lying on my back will be a bit more comfortable! For those of you who are not too squeamish there's a picture here. (Don't worry they're in a packet! No flesh in evidence!)

Mine's a double....

...discectomy that is.

Things have been a bit hectic since my last post...I was in quite a bit of pain after Sunshines Christening so I went to the docs to get a referral for another epdiural (as it was decided that maybe it was worth anoother go). Well, on Thursday I got a call from the hospital and I had an appointment with the consultant on Monday. Okay, that's kind of quick, Peter made me pack a bag just in case but we didnt really think that anything would happen on Monday...and bang! 'The epidural has done all it can, time to take them out...I have a space this afternoon or do you want a few days to get your life together?' 'err, it's as together as it can be, let's do it!'
And that was it, admitted to hospital and operated on in one day. Got to come home on Wednesday as physio and everyone else waas happy with my recovery. Lucky for the squeamish there are no pictures of my staples...although the nurse did tell me that there were 12 of them!

Sunshines Christening

Sunshine was Christened today by Brian an old Allen family friend, Harry took on role of Godfather and my sister, Fran, Godmother #1 and Peters neice, Sarah, Godmother #2. All went well by all accounts; my Mum pulled a Grandma on icing the cake (i.e. by getting up in the middle of the night to do it!).
The food was good, it was great to see everyone and it even gave us a get out on our wedding party (finally!) Of course if it had been summer we would have had a big party and invited loads of people, but I think 30 is stressful enough! And even that many wouldn't fit in our house!


Once I get hold of some photos of Sunshine in her Christening robe, fear not they will be posted!

Watch out Cats!

We saw this sign on the way from Biggleswade to my Mums and couldn't decide if it was a warning to cats, a tip for dogs or a service which was offered in the village!

In with the new and out with the old

I decided that it was time that my dancing shoes should be retired at least for the time being...they have taken up residence in the garage for the next six months (probably to make homes for mice). They had given me good service and were the second pair of this type as I loved the first pair so much...They saw me through my pregnancy so they have basically had it..no spring left! I've replaced them with a more 'sensible' pair of Skechers...
My spotty Green Flash pumps had also had their day so they went out to the bin never to be seen again on

the arrival of my more fun blue and pink Green Flash (who says you have to be grown up all the time?!)
(And this is just proof that I can throw things out!)

Home for the weekend

It feels like it's been a while since my last post, but I suppose it hasn't really. Sunshine and I went home for the weekend for various things. I was nice to be in my own home for a few days although it wasn't very restful as Sunshine decided to have a teething night which got both Peter nad I up every 2 hours on Saturday night so Sunday we both felt a bit like death warmed up! In all honesty it could have been a combination of teeth and Jab reaction...
Anyway it was nice to be home, but now I'm back at my mums for the week.

Bury St Edmunds

As part of mu prescribed exercise routine we all went of a trip to Bury St Edmunds...quite a nice market town with some interesting things like this sign for Lloyds bank...









and the smallest pub in Britin called the Nutshell...apparently we should have been holding a pint whilst the photo was being taken but that wasn't possiible for me! :(




We stopped for lunch at a lovely place called Cupola and Sunshine seemed to enjoy the music!

Caramelised Casserole Catastrophe

Poor Peter...he made casserole yesterday evening and put it on for a slow cook in the oven...but because he was so knackered from dealing with Sunshine all week we went to bed early.
This morning the caramelised casserole looked a bit like this...



...so it'll be something different for tea tonight!

I wonder what will shift the stuff off the casserole dish....

Jammy donuts

Life on the carpet has changed a bit over the last couple of days...in fact I haven't been on the carpet..I've been in hospital finding out that I have not one but two herniated lumbar discs. The gooey stuff in the disc had leaked out and was pressing on my left leg nerves..it was described to me by the suegeon as the jam being squeezed out of a jammy donut!
I got to have a look at my MRI scans but couldn't bring them home to blog so I found these picks to give an idea of what happened...but with two discs!



So, as a result I was given two options...a caudal epidural where steroids are pushed into the epidural space at the base of my spine to encourage natural healing of the tissues...or a discectomy

50/50 chance of success with one or 80% chance with the other...
Yesterday I opted for the epidural and now I can walk and the numbness in my toes is subsiding...should be tingle/numbness and pain free in a couple of weeks. The only downside is I can't do any heavy lifting or bending at the waist for a while which means I can't pick Sunshine up :(...we're off to my mum's for a while so Peter can recover and get back to work.

But at leasat it's something positive to post! The last few have been a bit dismal so it's about time I had some good news to blog!

Life on the carpet

Well, not life as most people would know it...and not new life on the
carpet...although I really should hoover more often! I'm stuck on the floor again today...after improvements in my pain situation over the last couple of weeks, I feel like I'm back to square 1 again. Spasm city or the suburbs at least. Poor Peter had to come home from work to look after Sunshine and I am realising how cold it can be on the floor all day...especially when both the doors are left open and the fire is off! I'll be more considerate to Sunshine from now on and maybe even get some draught excluders.

Time flies

Yesterday was our 6th Wedding anniversary and we had a lovely day! I can't believe it was only 6 years ago Peter and I got married (but in the nicest possible way of course!)! First thing I managed to surprise Peter by giving him a card which I had the forward planning to get! Then we took Sunshine swimming...she did her first underwater swim which was great if a little daunting! Sunshine did well and didn't seem too perturbed by the experience!
At around midday we all went to Wisley for a walk with the plan that we would have something to eat there. It was a lovely sunny day but a tad cold so it was lovely to dive into the glasshouses and immerse in the fragrances of the orchids. Despite my hampered mobility it was not quite as bad as when we went there 4 months ago! We did stop at the restaurant and had a cup of tea and a slice of cake...and Sunshine had some milk. Oh, and the 'giant rhubarb' was all shrivelled up and basically dead looking! You can see some of the photos here...
In the evening, we packed Sunshine off to bed at 6.30 and got ourselves a curry!

Soup, soup a tasty soup...

I made Mandy's soup the other day and it was yummy scrummy! We had some for lunch the next day and I even froze some. I wasn't sure if Peter would enjoy it but he surprised me today by bringing home another butternut squash...all I need now is the cider!

Yummy tea for me!

Hooray! Yesterday afternoon the man from Toast services came and fixed our oven! The oven blew up a few weeks after Sunshine was born whilst we were cooking a roast...fortunately for us it was only a connection block which needed to be replaced! So last night we had a yummy oven cooked meal from Cook...Braised lamb shanks...yum,yum,yum!!! It had been in the freezer for a while because I bought it a couple of weeks after the cooker blew up (and it couldn't be microwaved!)! Doh!!
The next thing we need to do is replace the bulbs in the oven, because the light doesn't seem to work :( If only we had noticed while the nice man was here.....

Friday the 13th

I'm not superstitious but this Friday 13th was not a good one for me...At 7am my lower back decided to go into spasm just as I was getting to the top of the stairs. It was just a good job that it was early in he morning and Peter had not gone to work...poor Sunshine was screaming for her brekkie! Agony does not adequately describe the pain...time for an ambulance.... :( Entonox to get me down the stairs and into the ambulance and a trip to Frimley Park.
It seemed like an age before I was seen by anyone...amazing how gas & air slows time down...drugged up and sent home so I have taken up residence on my trusty matress in the living room. Fed up because I wanted to take Sunshine to Aquatots today...but lucky for her Peter has...Sunshine and I will be going to stay at my mums for a few days so that Peter can go to work...Mum will enjoy seeing Sunshine for such a long time!

Froggy disappointment

I think this is a fun toy but I was sorely disappointed at Sunshines reaction...or lack of it to be more precise...she didn't even jump when it popped out...:( She is obviously far too intelligent to be taken in by a jumping frog, I'll have to wait a bit before she appreciates it, or I have a lot to learn about choosing toys!

Another year older

It was my birthday at the weekend and we went to my mms for it. It was our first visit to her new house and it's a lovely house although it is that bit further away than I'm used to! Peter and I got a fab nights sleep (which is unusual because not many people have waterbeds for their guests!. It was lovely to see my Mum as we missed Christmas together! We went out on Saturday night to The Crown for a fantastic meal and Sunshine was as good as gold, although we did have to strip her to her vest as it was rather warm!
It was a strange birthday this year, mainly because Sunshine is around now and she takes presidence over everything else! Peter has given me two gifts this year...one a fabulous eternity ring...
...and the other is even better..he has decided to give up smoking! It's my birthday present so that he can't take it away from me!

Happy New Year

...to one and all! We had a quiet New Year celebration last night once Sunshine had had her 1130 milk...mainly because we were all shattered after travelling for what felt like the the whole day! Well...I guess it was! We left the villa in Portugal at 8am yesterday for the airport and finally got home at around 430pm!
Sunshine was a star for the whole journey! I was a bit worried about her ears on the plane...but with no reason she didn't seem bothered at all! She was the best behaved (and probably the youngest) baby on the plane - and that goes for both flights!!
I must say that it was lovely being in Portugal for two weeks with the longer, warmer (if occasionally wet) days, but it's even better to be home!