An odd bunch

We found this bunch of apples growing on mum's tree!

Any ideas??

I found these dead spiders at the bottom of the camping bag, anyone have any ideas what the little pea things are that are attached to them??
I also found one live spider running round in the bag, i'm not quite sure what to do with it!!

Baking day with a difference!

Today i embarked on a new hobby. I chose some soap making ingredients for my Christmas present from Bloke's family and here are the results of my first experiment. I'm fairly happy, the icing took a bit of trial and error but it looks ok and the red hearts have come out wonderfully! The cakes are scented with vanilla and strawberry and the hearts are scented with just strawberry and have golden dust mixed through :-)
My mind is now racing and i will be gathering inspiration and ingredients for another batch once i have found homes for this little lot ;-)

A wee visitor

So i'm sitting at the sewing machine in the kitchen and i heard a crash from upstairs. I know it's not Rojjie cos he's outside, it's not the dawg cos he's next to me and it sure isn't the rats cos they don't even know where the stairs are! I got up to go upstairs thinking that something had just slid off the bathroom windowsill or something and a sparrow flew upstairs from the living room!! I seriously thought i was imagining things so i went and grabbed Rojjie and he came in to verify it was in fact a sparrow. Which it wasn't, it was a bluetit!! After some discussion, i went upstairs to close the doors and to try and shoo it downstairs which was managed successfully. Roj shut the kitchen door and i told him to open the front door while i stayed guard on the stairs and Roj should try and shoo it out of the front room. Well, if ducking and shouting "AH!" everytime it moves is how one shoos a teenytiny bluetit then he did a sterling job *LOL*
We switched positions and the front door was opened wide and once Mr.Bluetit spied the sunshine he flew straight out. Bless.
We have no idea how it got in, it was really surreal and i'm glad Roj was here to confirm it wasn't a figment of my imagination!

hehehehe gotta love the comedy beaver :oD

Never actually seen the film...

But...

The sorting hat says that I belong in Hufflepuff!

Said Hufflepuff, "I'll teach the lot, and treat them just the same."

Hufflepuff students are friendly, fair-minded, modest, and hard-working. A well-known member was Cedric Digory, who represented Hogwarts in the most recent Triwizard Tournament.

Take the most scientific Harry Potter
Quiz ever created.

Get Sorted Now!

More illness

Feeling slightly sorry for myself this evening. The cold is coming out more, i cant stop sneezing and my hands ache. That could be something to do with the chiropractor pulling them about this afternoon though. The session went well, if pain and torture are your thing :o(
She worked on my neck and shoulders which hurt, she worked on my jaw, which hurt even more and then she worked on my trigger points in my bum which hurt for ages cos she couldn't work the tension out :o(
Luckily i had a lovely couple of hours in the LYS with Lisa to make up for it, see the knitting blog for more details ;o)
Speaking of the knitting blog, i'm wondering if it's such a good idea to have two separate blogs, after all knitting and crochet play quite a big part in my life, i wonder if i should have kept them all together. Ah, well, too late now. Hopefully beta.blogger will get their finger out and give me a blue migrate button and i can have them all in one place :o)
Herbert's taking his echinachea well, i've put it in their water so all three boys are getting it. He's also got a tissue next to the cage with some vicks on it to try and ease his congestion which does seem to be working a little. I've finally managed to get all three boys in together! YIPPEE!! It's been blummin hard but hopefully we're done with the fighting now.

Another Monday morning

I don't even have to go to work and i find Monday mornings most depressing!
We've had a nice lazy weekend, catching up on telly stuff and i got some sock-bags cut out and they are all ready for sewing up. I also made a tonne of stitch markers that are for upcoming swaps and little Christmas gifts for my knitting-group friends. Other than that we did bugger all!
I had a lovely phone call from my bestest friend which was lovely and very rare as she is always so busy that we usually get ten minutes then she has to dash off for the kids again. The eldest was off at cub camp for the whole weekend and they were making the most of the peace and quiet!
Yesterday morning i woke up with a sore throat which gradually spread to my nose over the course of the day and this morning i have woken up with a sore throat, sore ears, a bunged up nose and a splitting headache :o( I am of course blaming Janet who hosted the aromatherapy party on Friday. She said she was burning something to neutralise the air and kill off her germs but obviously it didn't work cos i feel rotten and she's the only person i have had contact with in the last few days who's had a blumming cold! I'll pick up some stuff from the health shop when i go to the chiropractor this afternoon, i want some echinachia anyway for the ratties and Bloke and i could do with taking some over the winter too. In the meantime i am sitting here sniffing cos i have a dribbly nose and i can't blow it out *lol*

The Knitting has Left the Build... erm.. Blog!

I've set up a Beta Blogger account for knitting content, gawd knows why cos i can barely keep this one alive! I'll still write about crafty stuff here, but the other will be dedicated to showing off stash and finished projects and "stuffnthat" :oD
My back is feeling much better today which is so much of a relief you could not believe it! I am walking upright and able to stand up and sit down without having to hang on to something, which is nice! I'm going back to The Neurologist soon for a check-up. I'm not sure what to do. I've not been taking the pain-killers he gave me for The Headache since i started seeing The Chiropractor because i had been taking so many different tablets over the past few weeks i wanted to give my body a break from all the chemical invasion and now i don't want to start taking them again because i won't know if it's the tablets or the chiropractic that stop the pain (see the optimism there?)
The problem is, if i go back to The Neurologist and tell him i am not taking the tablets, he will sign me off and be angry with me for wasting his time, and i can kind of understand why too... it's a dilemma alright. I wonder if i should cancel the appointment and reschedule for the new year when i will know if the chiropractic has worked or not.

Me as Art!

Me as Art!
Originally uploaded by franneyk.

If i were a painting, this is what i'd look like. Blimey! Aren't i gorgeous! :oD
Make your own portrait here
I like it so much i'm going to play with the colours and elements to make one for the living room!
Thankyou Mr.Terry :o)

Socks and drugs and sausage rolls

I've signed up for the Hot Socks swap over at the Townies and already decided which yarn and pattern i will be sending, i can't wait to find out who my partner is, and whether we are swapping in pairs or giving to one person and receiving from another, it's quite exciting in a sock yarn kind of a way!
I'm having terrible sock knitting problems at the moment. This leaf and tendril sock is the second time i have cast on with the St.Ives and i still don't like it so it's going back in the stash box! I love the colours of the yarn but i am not enjoying knitting it up one little bit, it feels kind of stiff and hard, and i just don't want to play with it any more. I wonder how many other people have yarn they just don't like, perhaps there's an "unwanted sock yarn swap" to be had somewhere?? I'm going to put it away and grab the Opal Zebra so i can make me some groovy Jaywalkers, if the Bloke is a good boy i might even cast on a pair for him, although the thought of all that stocking stitch is making me feel kinda queasy! I'll have to measure his feet too, oh how i look forward to that! NOT!
Mens feet are just the vilest things aren't they, other than old people feet of course but luckily i don't have to deal with any of them. It's the shape i think, they look all weirdly proportioned and so boney! I've started thinking about it now and i feel quite sick! Not as sick as yesterday though :o( I did a little experiment on Saturday and had a mug of "proper" coffee with caffiene in and i've discovered i am still intolerant and it still gives me migraine :o( I spent all of yesterday feeling nauseous and some of the morning puking and all of the weekend with a banging headache. It's eased off a bit today, i gave myself a head massage with aromatherapy oils and had a good long soak in the bath with a book. I've also changed the way i take my medications and staggered them so i'm not taking both anti-b's at the same time, to see if that helps and i'll lay off the indometicin until the anti-b's are finished as they could be contributing to headaches/nausea/general blahness.

In rattie news... there have been several small spats, Freddie is making sure Herbert and Squiggle know he is the boss and they certainly seem to be taking notice! I've caught Herb protecting Squiggle on a couple of occasions and he spends most of their free-range time running round with one hand clasping Squiggles scrotum and his nose planted firmly up his bum! Poor wee lad, it's like having a weird "Uncle" who makes you sit on his knee so he can touch your thigh... So, not only is my dog gay, but my rat is a perv! I think i'll stop getting pets now, i'll probably end up with a Madam at this rate *lol*

ho hum

think i should retire from the blogging business, i don't seem to be very good at it do i!

who knew

booking a makeover could be so stressful!
Last year i bought a "deluxe makeover" for my Mum and friend for their birthdays and as far as i was concerned that was it, all paid for. Well, apparantly not, they are now telling us that we have to pay a £25 deposit per person, that's an extra £100! Although it's refundable and theoretically i have no problem paying it (on Bloke's card of course ;)) the fact that it doesn't say this on any of the paperwork or the LastMinute website has really got up my nose! I've spoken to "Lucy" who despite suffering quite badly with either hayfever or blocked sinuses managed to tell me that they cannot make a booking without the booking fee and that it does say on their website that it has to be paid, to which i explained that i booked it through LastMinute and it says nothing about it, nor does it say it on the vouchers they sent. Her reply? "Well, it says it on our website" grrrrrrrrrrrrr!
I explained to her that as it was booked through LastMinute there had been no need to visit their website and i thought it was pretty poor that it doesn't say it on any of the other literature, she again told me that no booking can be made without the deposit and it is fully refundable on the day as long as we turn up and if i wasn't happy and wished to complain i should ring customer services. Which is exactly what i have done. All i am worried about now is that when we do eventually book it we will all be given really bad mullet cuts and clown make-up :(
Perhaps having principles isn't such a good thing after all? (If indeed it is principles and not just plain contrariness!!)

to whom it may concern

thankyou for the rain

it's hot

and i've had enough of it. I'd like it to rain now, please.

a-ranting we shall go!

I have a real bug at the moment and it involves eBay sellers.

In my opinion a seller should leave feedback for you when your part of the transaction is completed i.e. when you have made payment and they have received it. There is an ever-growing trend however, for sellers to remark "I will leave you feedback when you have done the same for me".

I think this is wrong. As a buyer i want my feedback rated on how i am as a buyer, not how i am as a "feedback leaver" which is what this is doing. If sellers are waiting to see if they get negative feedback so they can respond with the same they should ensure that every transaction goes as perfectly as possible, therefore ensuring they receive only positive feedback.

There is an option in the "feedback forum" on eBay to respond to comments left by others, they should use that feature to explain why the negative/neutral feedback is unjustified and not retaliate by leaving a neutral/negative feedback for the buyer. Unless of course the buyer deserves it, in which case the same scenario applies, respond to the feedback left with an explanation or reasons why you were a poor buyer.

See, i will still buy from a person who doesn't have a 100% rating, i always check why negative feedback has been given and i am capable of making up my own mind about buying from such people. And who really cares that four months ago you got a negative feedback from one of the two thousand or so otherwise happy customers?

*Steps down from soapbox*

Anyone else have a gripe they would like to air?

oh bugger

It's WWKIP Day and i forgot all about it!

Unfortunately, after the excitement of getting my Opal yarn this morning i developed a migraine and have spent the last couple of hours zonked out on Migraleve

I've had a cool bath, stuck a cooling gel pad to my head and am listening to "Whale Song" by Tim Wheater which is a lovely relaxing piece of music and *touch wood* it's faded to a dull headache now.

We've been invited to a BBQ this evening so perhaps i will take my knitting with me and do some there, that's almost in public isn't it *lol*

MahNahMahNah...... DooDoooDoDoDo

You Are Animal

A complete lunatic, you're operating on 100% animal instincts. You thrive on uncontrolled energy, and you're downright scary. But you sure can beat a good drum. "Kill! Kill!"

The Muppet Personality Test