black and white

Auntie Isabelle's funeral yesterday was really sad but it went as well as a funeral can be expected to go.
Unfortunately I'm going to another next Wednesday... an old school friend died of cancer after a very brave fight. 
It's one of those 'wear something bright and don't come in black' sort of funerals.
Now call me old fashioned but I like a bit of black at a funeral. A lot of black actually. Everybody matching. Very smart. At my funeral everyone has to wear black. With a bit of white if they wish. But NO colours. Black and white only or you can't come in. Big black hats totally welcome of course.

smelly dog

Minnie the dog is all very lovely.....but she does have a tendency to smell like a dog.
We stick her in the bath around once a week ...but it's a three man job. One to hold her in there, one to do the washing and one to fill up the jugs of warm water.
Last week I had to do the job solo. I can't stand that doggy smell and I had people coming....so I locked us both in the shower and washed her on my own. It was a traumatic experience that I do not wish to repeat.
She's a bit stinky again now and ready for another bath. What a bore!
Maybe when it gets warmer we'll just hose her down outside? Roll on summer...

night in with the kids

The Other Half has gone out. Me and the Big One and her friend are having a lovely night of telly watching.
Just been joined by the Little One though who was feeling left out on his own in bed.... he doesn't know how to sit still so it might be bedtime very soon....

reunion

Tonight me and my friend Rachael are going out with "Pontins".
Pontins was our mate when we were about 15. We haven't seen him since. He lives in the Isle of Man now but he's in sunny Yorkshire this week. He arranged a reunion via facebook. Just us three though....I think?....Can that be actually classed as a reunion?
He's called Pontins 'cos when we first met him he made the mistake of showing us his photo....in the Pontins brochure! He went on holiday there every year. It was nineteen-eighty-something. I think I've still got it. I suspect it's in the loft with all the other really important items that can't be thrown away 'cos we'll need them one day.... Maybe I'll dig it out before tonight, that'll give us something to talk about....

knit me a cozzy

When my Grandma and Auntie were young they didn't have much money. So when my Grandma wanted to go swimming Auntie Isabelle very kindly knitted her a swimming costume. My Grandma tried it on. She looked fabulous! Fitted her a treat.
Then she got in the water....and couldn't get out again 'cos it had stretched in a way that only a hand knitted swimsuit could stretch.
That was the end of Auntie Isabelle's fashion career.

auntie isabelle

Auntie Isabelle died last night.
She was my Grandma's twin sister and she would've been 93 next month.
Before my Grandma died they used to live together. For years. Grandma and Auntie. When our other halves are with us no more me and my sister plan to do the same.
Auntie Isabelle was lovely. She would've given you her last penny. We will miss her. But she's back with my Grandma now x

girls night in

Well, it's Wednesday so that can only mean one thing....girl's night... YAY!
There are five of us. We've been doing girl's night every Wednesday for nearly 20 years. When I tell people I'm going to girl's night they always look really interested and say ooooh where are you going? When I inform them that actually we just go to each other's houses they look slightly less interested. When I mention that we just have our tea and moan a bit they look decidedly unimpressed. And when I point out that we leave at bang on 10pm without drinking a drop of alcohol I can see them glazing over.
Not everyone's cuppa tea I suppose....but we're happy :-)
And we're going out properly this Saturday night....drinking and everything! :-)

hot date

My Mum and Dad kindly offered to have The Little People for a sleepover last night.
Yay! Night out for me and The Other Half!
We decided on a nice meal and a trip to the cinema...
Unfortunately with a start time of 7.15pm we couldn't fit in a 'nice meal' beforehand. And with a finish time of 10pm we weren't gonna get one after either.
But we were starving so... Plan B: we decided to get something quick at KFC before the film then go for a curry after...
The queue at KFC was at least a mile long.
So...Plan C: something quick at McDonalds..
Then...Plan D: McDonalds in the car 'cos it was so busy inside that we couldn't even sit down! (In the current economic climate people have clearly down-graded their restaurants...fast food joints are obviously de riguer these days!)
Anyway after sitting through nearly 3 hours of the highly depressing War Horse we needed a stiff drink. (Yes I know it's critically acclaimed...gonna win a million Oscars etc etc but blah blah it was mostly filled with misery and if it had been on DVD I would've turned it off!)
So we went to the pub.
And just had beans on toast when we got in.
We are so sophisticated!

dog's dinner

Minnie the dog has been outside a lot today. Every time I let her in she wanted to go back out again. How lovely I thought, she's making the most of the sunshine.
Or not....
She was actually scoffing the leftover food that The Other Half had put out for the birds. A flappy magpie must've knocked it off the bird table and Minnie the dog was having a bit of a picnic.
So I'm sorry to all you hungry birds out there.... I'm afraid your dinner's in the dog!

weekend

An ordinary sorta weekend in our house doing ordinary sorta things.
Got a busy busy busy week ahead now...for a change...

doodle

Went to a meeting the other night for the charity I'm involved with.
I'm not saying I was bored. No really. I wasn't. Honest.
But this is what I doodled on the back of my agenda....

I know! Get me! Drawing with real pencils on actual paper and everything!

Might as well use it in my design work this week.

And on my blog. Of course....

back to normal...

TREE: gone

CHRISTMAS CARDS: gone

OTHER MISCELLANEOUS CHRISTMAS TAT: gone

FLOOR: hoovered

HOUSE: cleaned

CHOCS/ALCOHOL/2 MILLION JAFFA CAKES: consumed

FRIDGE: full of veg

CHRISTMAS: over

KIDS: back to school

ME: work tomorrow

happy new year

Hope it's a good one people!