Weekend

It is Sunday evening and the usual routine at 8pm of me on DSP on the internet and Andy watching Top Gear. We Hve had a nice weekend. On Saturday I went to the 4th of 5 lessons of a short course in Indian Head Massage. I am really enjoying it. We take it in turns to give each other a head massage. It is nice and comfortable and it is okay to ask questions or make a mistake because we are all learning. Then we took the dogs for a walk round the woods. Millie loved running around and kept burying herself in the deep piles of leaves. It was very refreshing. This morning, despite getting up in the night a few times, I stayed in bed, proper, until 11.30am - BLISS. I took the dogs for a quick walk over the green, Millie is getting better at not chewing the lead but I must make time to take her out without Barney so she is not distracted and I can teach her to walk nicely.

We went Christmas shopping and have most

of the presents. Then I spent the rest of the

afternoon making an icebert. Yes you heard

me right. I am making a 2ft square ice berg

to display our penguin collection at work as

part of the office Christmas display. When it

is completed and decorated I will upload a

photo. Bet you can't wait!! Hee hee.

Sixth Form College

The past two evenings after work I have been going round Sixth Form Colleges with my daughter who will be doing her GCSEs this June and then going on to Sixth Form September 2009. She did have one college in mind for monhs as that is where her brother and sister went to, but after having looked around a different one (TM) last night she is keen to go there (TM) instead I think. It was a really nice school, she knows lots of people there already, though it is unlikely many from her school will go to the one we looked at last night. The great thing about it is that it is just up the road from where we live so that would certainly be useful with regards to travelling time and money. She is going to apply for the two and then she can make the final decision when her results come through in August 2009. It is a big step and I am so very proud that she is going to go ahead and do A levels. Her subject interests are English Literature, Media, Psychology and RE or Sociology or something else. She has her mock GCSEs next week, but has been doing very well so far, so I have high hopes for her to do well in her GCSEs in June.

The dogs are behaving well. I had the day off work today and had a bath this morning. Millie had a bath too after me. She is thankfully asleep right now, so I am enjoying the peace and quiet for the moment. Have to hoover and wash the floors but am loathe to move whilst it is quiet!!! LOL

On swap site I have just joined a swap where you swap your five favourite internet sites that you use regularly. I go on the internet every day at home and at work. Working as a medical secretary the sites I usually visit are to clarify spelling or meanings of medical terminology. At home the usual routine is to check out my emails, facebook, and swap bot and digital scrapbooking place.

I just love the internet and am fascinated with the amount of information that is out there. I chat daily to my daughter, who is 200 miles away at University, using MSN, email, facebook, and skype – all internet based communications. I have only this week started a blog on blogspot – it is not all that interesting but you are welcome to take a look - http://a1nnie.blogspot.com/
I love to make scrapbook layouts both paper and digital. The digital scrapbooking site that I visit daily is http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/ There are loads of great tutorials and everyone is very friendly. The site is US based but there is a good number from Europe and other areas. The support from the users is fantastic. There are regular chats and challenges. The freebie kits make this a very cheap hobby, though of course you can buy kits if you wish to extend your digital stash. Organisation (filing) is very important though if you want to find something again.

One site that was discovered whilst on digital scrapbooking place is http://www.wordle.net/ We all had great fun making word clouds and using them in our layouts. The great thing is the huge variety of fonts and colours and themes. Try it out, you will quickly become addicted!!
Following on from this I also came across another similar site which included a grungy background to words - http://www.typogenerator.net/ have a look at the gallery for some inspiration - http://www.typogenerator.net/gallery/
An interesting site that someone from work emailed me about tells you practically everything you might want to know about your birthday – really interesting information - http://www.paulsadowski.com/birthday.asp It has the usual info about birthday stones, flowers, colours, numbers but there are lots of international information too. Enjoy.

I have been researching my family tree for 20 years now and in recent years one site has been invaluable for extending the branches of my tree. I like www.genesreunited.co.uk but this may be just UK based, however I believe Ancestry.com is international. Many people use Ancestry but I don’t like the layout of the tree and information and much prefer the layout of genesreunited. I have over 900 names in my tree that are all connected to me in some way and have managed to go back to the late 1700s. The way forward now is to go to the individual Local Records Offices to check out the parish records – some of which go back to mid 1500s. This usually opens a whole load of other websites like the War Graves Commission etc.

Plenty to talk about re my research but another time, I think.

Hallelujah moment

AT LAST


Two nights in a row have been able to have both dogs indoors over night without any disturbance or mess, still having to get up at 4.30am but I can live with that. Went to bed at 8.30pm last night cos I was so tired. So have had a really good sleep.

When I got back from work last night we took both dogs straight out to the woods, it was dark by the time we got home! but they both enjoyed it. Millie is still chewing the retractable lead, she doesn't chew the short lead so much. I have enrolled her in a puppy socialisation class starting in January. This should help with her mouthing and jumping up, although she is getting a lot better each day. The two of them are right now curled up next to each other. Barney is tolerating her touching him a lot better now. I think if she is lying still he can bear it.

Struggling to keep awake at work as it is so hot and stuffy. It is too cold to have the window open but I want some fresh air. Have done some "googling" and discovered an ionizer might do the trick. Apparently it throws back negative ions into the surrounding attmosphere making the air fresher. Cost £20 but if it makes me feel better at work it will certainly be for the best. So this is the one I have gone for. Should arrive on Friday.

Am thinking of having Friday off work if I finish everthing off today. The boss isn't in and I am up to date with the work load. Plus it will give me time to make the iceberg for our Christmas decorations at work. We put them up on Wednesday. Getting very excited about it. Our office is the talk of the whole site, people marvel at our wonderous decorations. This year we are having a penguin theme on one side and reindeer etc on the other.

I recieved another post card from my post card swap, so that is 3 out of 5 so far. No-one has commented on mine yet. I just sent a little note on mine, but the ones I have received have got little doodles and stickers on - will do that next time. Will hopefully be a bit more prepared next time. It was a rush when I sent my five off last Friday.

Not a good day

Felt sick and giddy all day. It is so hot at work I cant bear it. One of the other girls and I are going to swap desks tomorrow as we are both complaining of neck ache - hopefully a seating change might help. Also I get to be near the window then so can get some fresh air without letting everyone freeze. Just feel like I cant breathe in the office. It is so hot and stuffy in there.


Left an hour early cos I felt so ill, had a little sleep when I got home.





Posted off my first ATC to my first swap partner. Very excited, hope she gets it okay. Another one in the US. Bought more stamps so I dont have to keep going to the post office. Must remember to post christmas cards to Richard and Stuart in Australia and my aunt in America. Must make sure they get there in time.





Andy has been "redeployed" which basically means he is out of a job, but they will keep him on and keep paying him the usual salary until another post can be found for him. Not good news at all. He will probably have to give up working in the office at home which means there wont anyone at home for millie which is a real problem. B****r. At least he has not been made redundant and no-one has been diagnosed with some horrible illness. Gotta think positive!

back to work

Back to work today after a nice leisurely weekend. There is chaos on the horizon as radical changes are made to the timetables. No one even knows what they are doing next week. Crazy times.

Andy weighed in today. Doing well, another half a stone lost. Result.

Got home after work and played with the doggies. Millie is starting to get used to having Barney around and doesn't launch herself at him every second he is in the same room as her!

Cant wait to start taking her outside for walks - on Thursday. May take her to London on Saturday for a nice walk around Hyde Park, hope the weather is nice.

I have the address of my swap partner for the Computer designed ATC - it is printed and ready to post tomorrow well ahead of the 1st December deadline. I think I will have to get some stamps for posting to the US in preparation as nearly everyone from the site is based in the US. Still, I should be getting some interesting post soon.

WOW

Wow this is going to be like an online diary. How cool. Isn't it amazing how technology has developed in such a short space of time? I just love it. But also wish I had the time to play a lot more.

Today we are recovering from our trip to Norwich for one of Andy's cousins wedding - must remember to update my genes reunited and the family tree records. It was great to meet these two cousins for the first time - though we didnt get much of a chance to chat to them what with one being the groom and the other being the best man. It was a very nice wedding and I hope bride and groom had a great day.

So today we didn't do a great deal, Andy was suffering the after effects of the rich food so didn't get out of bed until 2pm. I have been on the computer and just lazing around really.

Took Millie and Barney for a walk on the green today. She loved it as it was the first time she has had a chance to have a good run round outside of the garden. Can't wait to take her to the woods next weekend.

Sev has been to Lakeside to watch a film and Alice has lazed around too. Sarah, I think was at work. I spoke to her briefly on facebook. So many ways to talk with her now, I get confused!! LOL. I can communicate by Skype, MSN, facebook, telephone, email. Have done all five this week. Might just use one more method of communication even if it is a little outdated now - that is a letter. Did you know that the snail mail post has reduced by 25% in the past five years - thanks to the PC.

I found a new website called www.swap-bot.com/ It's pretty cool and you can get to swap almost anything. I started looking at the website because I had started looking into swapping ATCs. But the site also does post cards, amongst other things. So last Friday I sent five post cards of Hadleigh Castle to 5 people in the US, I am expecting to receive post cards from the US in the mail this week. Perhaps the snail mail might make a come back!! Then again maybe not.