I've got one word for you...

Penfriends! The fact that I'm a real Betty No Mates spurred me on to finding myself a penfriend or two. I have a need for female interactions that I'm sadly lacking at home at this seemed a good way to get some without all that necessary faffing about actually MEETING people. I'm LONG finished with internet chat and all it's associated weirdos so that was not an option I was willing to consider. As things turned out, I now have 3 Regulars and 2 Not So Oftens in the Penfriend Department. As you can see from the dismal lack of postings, they keep me pretty busy! I'm loving it!

I'm also loving my Volunteering for my Housing Association. I'm on several Tenant Panels including the Tenant Executive Panel - ooh, get me! As a group we get to make decisions about company policies and how things are run regarding the tenants as well as deciding on materials and choices for use when properties are updated. There's quite a lot of paperwork and reading involved (NO probs for me!) and I'm really beginning to feel that I'm able to make a difference. In recent meetings I've been able to put my points across really effectively and (shock horror) I think they're beginning to respect me! I'm a lot younger than my fellow panelists which can be challenging in itself. Bless 'em, I do admire the fact that they are willing to participate and they work really hard in many different areas BUT it's a bit of the 'same old faces' scenario, their minds are somewhat closed and the bigger picture seems a long way away for most of them. This means that I get to be quite mouthy and pushy and force them into seeing things a different way. Now I wonder why I was asked to become part of it all... ?

Toast by Nigel Slater

Tinned Ham (excerpt)

Actually, I rather like ham. What I don't like is this ham. The sort of ham that comes from an oval green tin and is surrounded by golden-brown jelly. The sort of ham it takes an age to prise from its aluminium coffin. The sort of ham that my father carves very thinly with the same knife he uses for the Sunday roast. Pretty-pink ham, evil jelly.


This is a smashing little book that will make you laugh out loud. There are a few rude bits though. Saucy rude, nothing desperately explicit.

Otters. 

Beautiful jellyfish. 

My son discovering that penguins will follow your finger to the ends of the earth. 

21st Century Girl

Have you seen the tv ads for aol lately? The ones which are asking if the internet is a good or a bad thing. It certainly makes you think.

One of the worst things about the internet for me personally is the sheer amount of crap on it. By crap, I don't mean misinformation or anything like that, I mean those sodding 'viral' emails. They vary between the 'pass on this email if you don't want little Tommy with cancer to die' to 'hi, I'm from Nigeria, give me money'. The ones that used to annoy me more than any were those cloying, cutesy 'friendly' ones with little poems and questionnaires. Good God - the boundlessness of having more information than you can possibly need at your fingertips and that's what some people think you want to see??!! Porn I can understand, but that kind of "ooh, pass it on" thing is beyond me.

I found out my dad was dead on the internet. By email actually. How very 21st Century. Now, that may sound quite sad but it wasn't really. I lost touch with my father years ago. He suffered a stroke as a result of a head injury when he was 26 and I never really knew the 'man' he was before that. I just knew what he became. Anyway, I got in touch with a cousin of mine via FrendsReunited and she told me that he died in 2000. At least I knew, and I was SO pleased that a family member had been the one to tell me. That may seem odd but I don't actually have much of a family and it meant a lot to me. Thank you Mandy.

Ain't it the truth
(or What is irritating me today Part 2)

http://snipurl.com/lpk0

What is irritating me today - Part 1

http://snipurl.com/lpjt


Couldn't you just SMACK her? Hard and repeatedly.

I'm going grocery shopping today. Whoop-di-doo. I dislike any kind of shopping really, but grocery shopping is purgatory. I make a list (my days of buying only pet food and tinned tomatoes are long behind me) and I'm rarely enticed from it. Straight in and out then you may think. Not a chance. Why are supermarkets so BIG? I'll be trudging around Tesco for at least an hour; and that's KNOWING EXACTLY what I need. I've lost entire days when I'm sans list. By the time I'm in the loo roll aisle I've lost the will to live. Actually, that's not true. Once I'm beyond the fruit and veg (which is right at the entrance) I want to go home. I tend to cook from scratch. None of your Ready Meals for my family. I like to know what we're eating. Last week I bought my three boys a Spaghetti and Meatballs Ready Meal and it met with less-than-rave reviews. "Hardly a man-sized portion" said my (almost) 18 year old. And he was right. It was meagre, bland and not worth the money. For the cost of 1 of those meals I could feed all three of them. Not that I'm Miss Thrifty Good Housekeeping 2006! I've never had much money and it's much better value to dig out your recipe books and make something yourself. Thankfully I don't have to resort to 'what to make for dinner out of that frozen pastry I've had for over a year and the dry hunk of cheese in the fridge' any more. Or living on Pea Soup. Now that's a tale in itself.

Not bad for a first attempt, eh? Some kids said they were 'nectar', which is good - I assume. 

Well that was a pretty painless process to post my favourite pic of my cat! Now you shall be treated to my Halloween pumpkins...

This is Red. Isn't he cute?