Over the years I seem to have developed some very definite ways of doing things and usually it's for a very good reason, so I thought I'd share.
One of my pure indulgences are my nails, I've worn acrylic coated painted nails for years and although I've always used experienced and talented nail technicians at times I've had to do DIY repairs to see me through to my next real manicure. However, I'm never going to do time consuming (and smelly) repairs on holiday so now in my 'first aid' kit I carry super glue in case an acrylic starts to lift or threatens to pop off it is quickly fixed.
What's your way?
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Sunday, 9 October 2011
Nothing so special as kith and kin...
Had a really lovely family day for our son's birthday. Our son and his fianceD came and so did our daughter, her partnerM and the three grandchildren and we all went out to our favourite Italian restaurant for a late lunch. Then when totally fed and watered we came home for tea and cake, yummy birthday cake specially made by fianceD's sister, a rich chocolate cake with double chocolate fondant icing and she'd also made some yummy cup cakes with a sort of pineapple cheesecake type icing on the top.
After all that sugar the children got a bit carried away with a throwing toys around the room and at people type game which then progressed into a chasing each other game including uncle who did most of the chasing and children who did most of the screaming and giggling. Eventually they calmed enough to actually play a good game of Kubb in the garden but from my safe sofa I did see them all being chased again by uncle who was holding the water squirting bottle!
And now...son and fianceD have just left, the grandaughters are on the computers upstairs, O is quietly playing and eating a sandwich and us four adults are sitting about looking exhausted!
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After all that sugar the children got a bit carried away with a throwing toys around the room and at people type game which then progressed into a chasing each other game including uncle who did most of the chasing and children who did most of the screaming and giggling. Eventually they calmed enough to actually play a good game of Kubb in the garden but from my safe sofa I did see them all being chased again by uncle who was holding the water squirting bottle!
And now...son and fianceD have just left, the grandaughters are on the computers upstairs, O is quietly playing and eating a sandwich and us four adults are sitting about looking exhausted!
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Friday, 7 October 2011
Sitting on the see-saw...
With the good weather it has been easy to keep up with the laundry.....but you wouldn't believe the huge pile of ironing that's waiting!
Looks like all 1,000 of the chamomile seeds I'd planted have germinated.....but don't really have the time/energy/compost for all the pricking out!
The "shall we have solar panels" debate is on again - a see-saw ride all of its own!
If you have solar panels and have any advice please let me know.
Booked an appointment with a new nail technician now my previous one has given up. Always a struggle to find a good one so fingers crossed.
Caught up with some recorded TV on Tuesday but only because my usual night out with friends got cancelled.
I got two new members to join our art group a month ago, but they didn't come back again last night.
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Looks like all 1,000 of the chamomile seeds I'd planted have germinated.....but don't really have the time/energy/compost for all the pricking out!
The "shall we have solar panels" debate is on again - a see-saw ride all of its own!
If you have solar panels and have any advice please let me know.
Booked an appointment with a new nail technician now my previous one has given up. Always a struggle to find a good one so fingers crossed.
Caught up with some recorded TV on Tuesday but only because my usual night out with friends got cancelled.
I got two new members to join our art group a month ago, but they didn't come back again last night.
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Tuesday, 4 October 2011
Now th-air's a good name....
Just as a quick follow up to our holiday, today we had our Daughter, M and the children here for lunch and we gave the children the air-plants each in a little pot and some sweets and Daughter and M had some Belgian chocolates. The children loved the plants and after customising each round pot with felt tip faces they named them Airdward, Lucair and Airdwina, very clever and so cute :o)
I did notice that the chocolates didn't last long either as they all dived into the small bag.
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I did notice that the chocolates didn't last long either as they all dived into the small bag.
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The coach trip adventure....
Friday 30th September - Monday 4th October
OK before you get smart and point out that this is my fourth holiday this year, in my defense I will say that two of them have only been three nights away from home and the other two were only a week each so put those together and it's a total of a mere 20 nights.....so now you actually feel sorry for me don't you!
Hubby and I were away with two other couples, M&P and T&F. We were taking a coach trip for three nights in Lille and included a full day trip into Bruges.
We had the usual early morning pick up and a couple of changes of feeder coaches then onto our final coach at Dover then onto the ferry and off at Calais and to our hotel, which was on the outskirts of Lille but thankfully near the Metro. Our driver reminded us of a local performer we often see called 'Hat-Man' so that became his nick-name even though he never wore a hat. Our tour guide was a lady who was possibly a bit older than us and obviously very experienced in French ways and the ways of Lille in particular and she had lots of information to give us over the coach speaker....although she used 'ermmmm' as very frequent punctuation so I kept listening for that and not taking in the info!
We decided not to sign up for the additional trip into Ghent, not only because it was quite expensive but also because Hubby and F especially were hating all the hours on the coach. That turned out to be a lucky decision for M as she was really unwell on that morning so wouldn't have done well on the coach, at least her and P could spend the morning in the hotel and meet the four of us in Lille later when she was feeling better. We did a lot of walking around seeing the buildings from outside and inside if they were shops or restaurants. The weather for this time of year was amazing, 25/27 degrees C, unbelievable! I bought three air-plants for my children as it's so hard to find small gifts for them, especially as this is our fourth holiday (oops promised myself I wouldn't mention that again).
Unfortunately our hotel didn't serve any food all weekend, although they advertised a full menu, so we had to train into Lille each night, but we made good use of the hotel bar and stayed until 1am on the first night and not much earlier the two following nights! In Lille we went looking for the famous military citidel/castle but that was closed too so T and I had to take photos through a gap in the huge wooden doors! Our last morning, Monday, was free time in Lille and it also transpired that most of the shops don't open till late on Mondays! Our day in Bruges was good, with lots of Belgian chocolate to buy and waffles to eat!
I know we laughed a lot but right now I can't remember anything specific we were laughing about. Over all P made a good job of taking care of the euros-kitty and I was ticket monitor on the Metro. The down side was Hubby ended up in pain when his sciatica flared up and P has hip pain and the rest of us stiffened up each time we spent a while on the coach, so M said to me today that even though people think that coach trips are for old people perhaps they really need fit people....I said that I thought coach trips MADE their customers into old people!
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OK before you get smart and point out that this is my fourth holiday this year, in my defense I will say that two of them have only been three nights away from home and the other two were only a week each so put those together and it's a total of a mere 20 nights.....so now you actually feel sorry for me don't you!
Hubby and I were away with two other couples, M&P and T&F. We were taking a coach trip for three nights in Lille and included a full day trip into Bruges.
We had the usual early morning pick up and a couple of changes of feeder coaches then onto our final coach at Dover then onto the ferry and off at Calais and to our hotel, which was on the outskirts of Lille but thankfully near the Metro. Our driver reminded us of a local performer we often see called 'Hat-Man' so that became his nick-name even though he never wore a hat. Our tour guide was a lady who was possibly a bit older than us and obviously very experienced in French ways and the ways of Lille in particular and she had lots of information to give us over the coach speaker....although she used 'ermmmm' as very frequent punctuation so I kept listening for that and not taking in the info!
We decided not to sign up for the additional trip into Ghent, not only because it was quite expensive but also because Hubby and F especially were hating all the hours on the coach. That turned out to be a lucky decision for M as she was really unwell on that morning so wouldn't have done well on the coach, at least her and P could spend the morning in the hotel and meet the four of us in Lille later when she was feeling better. We did a lot of walking around seeing the buildings from outside and inside if they were shops or restaurants. The weather for this time of year was amazing, 25/27 degrees C, unbelievable! I bought three air-plants for my children as it's so hard to find small gifts for them, especially as this is our fourth holiday (oops promised myself I wouldn't mention that again).
Unfortunately our hotel didn't serve any food all weekend, although they advertised a full menu, so we had to train into Lille each night, but we made good use of the hotel bar and stayed until 1am on the first night and not much earlier the two following nights! In Lille we went looking for the famous military citidel/castle but that was closed too so T and I had to take photos through a gap in the huge wooden doors! Our last morning, Monday, was free time in Lille and it also transpired that most of the shops don't open till late on Mondays! Our day in Bruges was good, with lots of Belgian chocolate to buy and waffles to eat!
I know we laughed a lot but right now I can't remember anything specific we were laughing about. Over all P made a good job of taking care of the euros-kitty and I was ticket monitor on the Metro. The down side was Hubby ended up in pain when his sciatica flared up and P has hip pain and the rest of us stiffened up each time we spent a while on the coach, so M said to me today that even though people think that coach trips are for old people perhaps they really need fit people....I said that I thought coach trips MADE their customers into old people!
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