Welcome to the world of tomorrow!

Balloch

2009-04-13T10:44:54Z

Yesterday we decided on a day trip to Balloch/Loch Lomond and here are the piccies. Unfortunately most of the journey was on a bus as they were doing works on the train line.

We met a lovely family who we ended up spening most of the day with getting very very drunk sitting outside in the sun. Overall a very good day, and I can't wait til the weather really picks up and we can do stuff like this more often.

Amelie

2009-04-06T20:10:43Z

Well we woke up on Saturday and thought we'd give Amelie a treat by taking her cone off for a while, while we looked after her (she was neutered on Monday and has to wear a cone to stop her licking her wound).

Turns out, we're not so good at looking after her :( She bolted under the bed and by the time we got her out, she had ripped/licked out ALL her stiches!

So we took her to the vet on Sat morning and luckily she said that she didn't need stitched again (which would have meant putting her under anaesthetic again and would have cost us about another £100) but she simply used some sugerglu on the wound and gave us some anit-biotics to give her.

So in the end it only cost us £14, which rocks. Luckily we have enough of her painkiller left to give so we know she's not in any pain, and her wound is looking very good.

The one (very loose) stitch she has left is due out on Thursday, so hopefully all will be clear then.

She has however got very clingy since the op, and she has slept with us in the bed every night since she tore her stitches out, usually in the crook of my arm, which is very cute.

I just hope she's okay, come Thursday.

Gorgie Farm

2009-03-29T10:15:27Z

Photos from our trip to Gorgie Farm yesterday. Owen also held a rat and stroked a chicken but I didn't manage to get photos of them. He was very taken with the guinea pigs.

I want a lamb, they were soooo cute!

Rugby

2009-03-15T09:54:49Z

I have uploaded pics from yesterdays rugby. It was a fabulous day, but the second half of the game was a bit dull. Well done to the Irish though.

photos are here

Hufoo!

2009-02-28T20:42:51Z

Today we bought a new dyson! :) Our old one, which was a wedding present from mun and dad and was awesome has just completely lost it's suction and has a very bad smell coming from it. We've cleaned it from head to toe but I think it's just old and decrepit. Of course, it has a 5 year guarantee and ot's almost exactly 5 and a half years old!

Our new one is basically the more recent model of our old one. The 'animal' which is especially good at sucking up cat hair. I used it in the lounge and just going over it quickly once, without going into the corners or anything, and it was full! I'd forgotten how amazing Dyson's are!

Also, we got it for a fantastic pice. We went to currys and it was there for £300, we almost bought it, but we thought we'd go to comet and compare prices. We got there and it was only £200!! So a complete bargain, we got it on the credit card, and we'll have it paid off in March payday.

And SCOTLAND WON THE RUGBY!!!! It was an awesome game apart from the first 10 minutes which were quite dull, but nothing compared to the Ireland-England game which was an incredibly boring game, especially the first half. And the English team are a bunch of thugs and were lucky to get away with only 2 yellow cards! It was just a shame that we didn't get another 2 tries, which we should have, and our try that was disallowed, on video replay, I'm pretty sure was a try.

C'mon Danielli!!!

Come Dine With Me

2009-02-22T18:54:43Z

I really love the idea of doing 'come dine with me' but have absolutely no interest in being on tv. I wonder if there is some way of starting a Glasgow 'come dine with me' without the tv cameras?.....

Holiday

2009-02-19T21:32:20Z

We just booked our holiday!

We will be visiting mum and dad with Chris and Cheryl from Aug 26 - Sep 5.

:D

I do love baking!

2009-02-04T22:04:04Z

Here is the inside of Seonaid's birthday cake and here are 3 photos of the mini meringues that I made tonight (and some soup as well, apologies for the state of the cooker)!

Cake box

2009-01-31T16:31:29Z

I bought a funky cake storage box today! It is this one from Lakeland.

I am currently making Seonaid's birthday cake and will use my funky new box to transport it to Edinburgh in about 30 mins.

If I remember I will get photos of the cake, it is the same one I've done a few times before, chocolate and raspberry, but it is sooooo good!

I was looking at a cake decorating evening class, but it was over £300!! I'll just get a book....

Meringues

2009-01-27T21:07:21Z

Well, I am feling pretty smug. I bought an electric hand whisk yesterday and my first ever meringues are now cooling in the oven :) They look fantastic, and I have some dark chocolate to melt over them and strawberries! I just hope they taste as good as they look.

I also found a simple recipe for creme brulee that I want to try at some point. I really wish I had a decent kitchen :( I hardly have any space to store baking stuff, and there's so much stuff that I'd love to get! I definitely can't get a proper food processor, but between the electric hand whisk and the fact that I am more than used to hand mixing stuff, I think I'll manage.

Going to make Seonaid my speciality raspberry chocolate cake on Saturday, and maybe some meringues if they turn out well...I just want to bake all day every day!

Waiting to hear back about a job I've applied for as an animal care assistant at the vet school which would be fantastic, but the closing date was only on Friday so I'm not expecting to hear anything yet.

Cats are all good, mini-cat is getting big, and they are all getting along very well now.

Mmmm...meringue

CSI Glasgow

2009-01-06T17:47:28Z

I am currently watching the CSIs remove the 'cannabis factory' from across the road :)
The house is literally across the road and about 2 down from us, exciting!

We were wondering what was going on last night as the fire engines and police were there for about 3 hours (with no obvious signs of a fire), then police stayed outside all night, and when I got off the train just now, I can see the CSIs bringing lots and lots of bags outside to a van.

And this morning we had to wait for an ambulance to be called before the train could depart becasue someone had collapsed/had a fit. Not so exciting as it involves someones health, but still, a good day for nee-naws!

Photos

2009-01-04T16:58:37Z

Sci has told me that Dropbox should be easier for me to upload and organise photos online for people to see, so I am trying it out.

You should be able to see my photos here.

It does look easier to store photos as you can create unlimited 'sets' or albums, whereas yo9u can't on flickr (not on a free account anyway). The only downside I have found so far is people can't comment on your photos, but I can live without that.

Photos

2008-12-30T18:46:40Z

I have uploaded some more photos of Amelie, who is much bigger now! Plus there's what few photos I took while Sean, Chrissy and the girls were visiting. And I think 1 that I took at Christmas on my phone, David had gone to sleep, and Amy and Maisie both climbed onto him and curled up to sleep as well, very cute!

Here be photos

Work was very quiet today, only about 10 people were in the office, and it'll be the same tomorrow, but we'l get away early tomorrow. We have no plans for New Year, but I'm not all that fussed. We don't normally do anything for New Year, we'll probably just stay in and watch more West Wing :)

The trains are an absolute nightmare at the moment. They are having some problem with the signals (I think they have new ones, but are having teething problems) so me and Nicky were sitting on our train for 40 mins this morning! (It's normally a ten min journey) But once I got to work I realised we had got off lightly as my boss, who is normally on the train for 6-7 mins, was stuck on it for 2 hours 15 mins!!! The Scotrail site says that the signals are not working at all, so they are having to manually direct all the trains in and out of Central. By the time I was leaving to go home, all the trains on the Paisley line (that I get home) had been cancelled until further notice, so hopefully they'll fix it overnight. I can get a bus to work, but don't know what they'll be like on New Years Eve! Plus its further to walk, and just a general pain in the bum, Glasgow buses are horrible.

Off to watch some more West Wing just now.

Gingerbread Men

2008-12-19T08:54:16Z

Here is one of my gingerbread men I made a few days ago. I have a photo of them all together in the tub, but can't get it off my phone...

I used butter icing to stick on their choc chip 'buttons' and also for their eyeballs. Their pupils and smiles are from some coloured icing pens that I bought ages ago and had forgotten I had. I love their googly eyes!

Christmas tree!!!!!

2008-12-01T16:12:56Z

Our first Christmas tree!

Freezer

2008-11-08T08:05:38Z

Our freezer has died :(

We came home from work on Thurs to find a lot of soggy fruit, defrosted meat and a very wet kitchen floor. Luckily we didn't actually have too much in it. The annoying bit is that both our fridge and freezer are squished into a small space under the worktop, and the freezer is exactly 50cm wide. I have so far only been able to find 2 freezers this wide, most seem to be either 54cm or 60cm. Thee was one that was 48cm but it was ridiculously tiny, I don't understand how 2cm can make such a difference, but ti really does! And the only 50cm one was out of stock :( So I am going to have a look online methinks.

So until I find one, we are freezerless, although I guess we could always just put things outside....

I never realised how often we use ice-cubes!

Mini-cat is doing well. She is eating properly now, the only problem is she keeps trying to eat us. We think she may be either possessed or pschotic :) She has a patented 'spider-jump' which she uses to reach the most juicy delicate parts of your face. And she will NOT give up trying to steal food from your plate! Sounds cute, but gets annoying really quickly. DOg and Electron are accepting her pretty well. Dog still won't touch her but Electron is quick happy batting her when she annoys him, or even just putting a paw on her and holding her down :)

Job is going well, it will be better once the girl I'm replaces leaves next Friday so I actually have a desk/PC/phone etc.

Off for a bath, then to the vets, then slobbing about all weekend I think.

Job

2008-10-29T17:45:41Z

So now I have a real job. As of Monday I am officially a HR Assistant for SDS, which is where I've been temping for the last 6/7 months anyway.

Amelie

2008-10-23T09:04:57Z

So, we took kitty to the vet last night and yup, she is girl so she is now officially Amelie. She did have fleas but she's been treated for them and I am spending the day washing all the bedding and fumigating every room one at a time with a super duper kill everything spray I got from the vet.

She only weighs 430 grams! She is tiny!!

Electron is very close to fully accepting her I think. He keeps sniffing her and he doesn't run away anymore, he seems quite relaxed around her, but no actual physical contact yet. Dog is gonna take a bit longer, she doesn't hiss at her anymore, but still runs away from her. I'm glad they are both slowly getting used to her, I don't want them to be miserable.

She has also started eating some food. Catherine (the vet) gave us some weaning food and suggested heating the catmilk in the microwave and putting the dry weaning food in it and letting it go all mushy. This seems to be working, but she still licks all the milk off and then eats the mushy biscuits. Its a start, and at least she's not starving! We just need to gradually decrease the amount of milk we use, so she learns how to chew properly. I swear, it's like having a baby! She was up 3 times to eat last night, which means one of us feeing her and then putting her in her cat litter. She's been pretty good at using her litter, only one small accident so far.

She's soooo cute!

KItten

2008-10-19T16:10:16Z

go to my flickr page to see photos of the new kitten or go to you tube for a video of her being cute.

Say hello to....

2008-10-18T18:02:28Z

A woman phoned the vets today to ask if we'd put up a notice saying she had kittens looking for homes. She had taken in a couple of strays a few weeks ago and it turned out they were both pregnant! So she had 11 kittens to find homes for and is struggling with the last 6.

So we went and got one this afternoon! She (so we've been told) is gorgeous, mostly grey with various white bits and a fantastic thin white streak down her back which looks like someone has flicked white paint over her :)It was a struggle to only take one, they were all so gorgeous and tiny! So if anyone in Glasgow is looking for a kitten, let me know. They are all shorthaired, and a mixture of black and white (almost fresian looking), with one pure black one.

I will post piccies later, once Noodle is back in with her camera. I've been wanting to take some time off work for ages so I will go in on Monday and see if I can take the rest of the week off which means I can supervise as we introduce Dog and Electron to the kitten. They've seen her and Electron is terrified and Dog hisses, so I think Electron will be fine once he's over his fear, and hopefully Dog will calm down as well.

We haven't settled on a name yet, any suggestions are welcome. Actually If it's a boy I have a few names but working on the theory that it is a girl, they're not much use.

Oh,and Sci bought a PS3 :)

Update

2008-10-16T15:56:47Z

Just heard back about the interview I had for a Marketing Assistant job at SDS, where I am now, and I didn't get it :( It was purely because of my lack of marketing experience. Ho hum. It was only a 6 month contract anyway, but then that's all they're giving out at the moment to new posts until the 6 new Directors are appointed and they can say for definite what the staffing structure will be.

There is a possibility that an HR assistant job will open up as one of the girls is emigrating at the end of November, and if they decide to replace her, I'll have a much better chance at that job 'cause I've mainly been doing HR stuff for the last 6 months.

Other than that, we have a new TV! It is massive and shiny!

Not much else really, the vets is going well, although I don't see a full time job emerging from it. If the HR assistant doesn't happen, then I'm gonna send my cv round all the vets in Glasgow to see if there are any receptionist jobs going.

But we're pretty sorted for money right now, so I'm not panicking or worrying. I refuse to take a job paying peanuts that is deathly boring. Hell, at this rate I'll still be temping at SDS in 6 months time!

I am trying in vain to start playing tennis again but it's harder than I first imagined it would be to find a court that I can easily get to.

Ikea suck. See Simon's rant.

We are hopefully going to buy a new bath and a shower this weekend. We want a bath like this.

Cats are good, Noodle is good, Sci is working away like a little worker bee for a big project at work but is generally good.

Food

2008-10-02T17:25:24Z

One of us accidentally left the freezer open last night, so we are now the proud sponsors of 'Cookfest 2008'!! Everything in the freezer defrosted which means tonight we have to cook:

2.5kg of mince
1.5kg of chicken breast
1kg of chicken legs
(all weights are rough approximations)

So, I currently have a curry simmering away, and Sci is up next to do his world* famous chilli. Nicky is the washer-upper, due to her poisonous cooking talents.

Not much else to report, I'm still temping, but still in the same place so I'm still hoping to get a permanent job there but we'll see.

Yummy yummy!

*world=our house

Stress

2008-09-04T16:40:30Z

Well, I didn't get the job i interviewed for last Friday because they thought despite me being 'well presented, coming across well and obviously good at what I do' they thought I'd get bored too quickly.

Cunts.

So, anyway, the job hunt goes on, and it's starting to really piss me off because I'm getting stressed out about possibly having no money come the end of the month (when my current temp contract ends). I've hardly slept this week and was absolutely shattered at work today. I just feel like curling up in bed right now and getting some sleep! It's annoying because it puts me in a really bad mood and I start hating the world and everything in it. Which isn't very fair as I've got a lot going on right now that's good, but it's hard to concentrate on the good stuff or even get any enjoyment out of any of it when I'm constantly worrying about whether I'll be making any money in a months time. And I simply cannot afford to be out of work at all.

I was supposed to be volunteering tonight for the ACTSA book appeal (sorting and packing books to send to schools and libraries in Southern Africa that can't afford to buy books) which I started doing last week, but I'm just too tired. It sucks.

And then some stupid fucking morons on the way home completely blocked the Goddamn train doors with their fucking double buggy and loads of bags, so I had to go to the next doors to get off. Morons.

Did I mention I'm in a foul mood?

It's our 5th wedding anniversary soon and if I can afford anything at all, I have the perfect present for Sci to tie in with it traditionally being wood presents that are given on the 5th anniversary :)

I want a puppy!

Interesting Stuff!

2008-08-21T18:32:52Z

I just realised I forgot the interesting stuff.

On Thursday I am starting to volunteer in the evening (one day a week) for ACTSA by sorting and packing donated books to send to schools and libraries in South Africa who can't afford to buy books.

Also, I am about to enrol in a 'conversational French' class at Cardonald College which runs for 10 weeks on Monday evenings.

I may be working longer hours at the vets. They're debating whether or not to stay open later on Saturdays. Currently I work 8:30-1 but they might stay open til 4. I've said I'd be happy to work through til 4, the extra money would be nice and it's only an extra 3 hours which is nothing really.

So actually, a few interesting things happening, I just hope I get a permanent job soon, so I can start enjoying it all.

Job Interview

2008-08-21T18:20:14Z

It's quite depressing that when I went to type the title to this post, it came up automatically. How many posts titled 'job interview' have I made!!

Anyway, I have an interview tomorrow and I really really hope I get the job. It's an admin job for a management consulting firm, but they seem pretty cool from their website. They're very ethical and firmly believe in looking after your staff, training them and listening to what they have to say etc. Plus its pretty good money which is always nice.

I think it's gonna be tough though,I don't know how many interviews they're doing, but I'd guess quite a few. I was surprised I got an interview actually. But we'll see. I'm about as prepared as I can be. I spent all afternoon composing answers to all the basic questions like 'why do you wanna work here?', 'what would you bring to the company?' and so on and so on.

I can't say I'm feeling confident that I stand a chance of getting the job, but I feel confident that I'm as prepared as I'm ever gonna be. I just hope it's not too formal, I crack when faced with a bunch of suits speaking corporate-ese at me!

In other news, Kat is moving in on Saturday so that'll keep us busy. She's started teacher training at Glasgow Uni so it'll only be for a few months until she finds her own flat.

Then on Sunday, we're going through to Edinburgh as we haven't seen the Ashfords for about 2 months! Hopefully the weather will be good enough so we can take Owen to the park or something. It'll be a busy weekend...

Nicky is back from France and currently attempting to cook something, anything! Sci is out seeing Hellboy (2?) and I am going to go read more about my prospective future employers.