Lizzie’s Pad

This Week, I Have Mostly...

nobody@vox.com(Lizzie) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 18:40:42 +0100

been eaten half alive by whatever insect was using me as a smorgasbord before. Whatever it is, it's living at KT's and I definately seem to be having some sort of allergic reaction to it as a couple of the bites are bright red and swollen to about eight times the original size.

been working on my penguin sketches. I've marked one of them onto a canvas that I intend to start painting on Monday when things aren't quite so hectic. I am bound to mess it up!

attacked the danders outside on the front lawn. Apparently, half a cup of vinegar is enough to kill them, but it makes the grass around them go a yellowy brown as well. I lifted the leaves of one up and twisted it. Of course, it came up and left half the root there, but looking at the way the root has gone brown, I doubt it will be growing anything unsavoury for a while. I'm going to keep an eye on it - that will be easy enough as there is now a big patch of dirt where the dandelion leaves smothered the ground!

considered sharing the photos of the dandelion root but really can't be bothered right now as I have to go to KT's soon and I am typing ten to a dozen already.

felt incredibly tired. I am pretty certain I am anaemic again and as eating lots of greenery, red meat and bananas does not seem to be making me a different shade to translucent zombie, I think it means another trip to the doctor to try and find out why the heck my body refuses to absorb iron correctly. Yah Boo Sucks.

been whisked away by KT to see 'Hancock'. It was pretty enjoyable and there were few visual errors to get in the way - except for a pretty terrible continuity error with some blood on a blue shirt (that's as much of a spoiler as you're gonna get). It was possibly the busiest film we've ever been too, with almost all the seats behind us taken. Mind you, the couple sitting to KT's left who were eating their packed lunch were extra noisy - you know how it is, you try and be quiet and you make more noise!

missed going to see the first showing of 'The Mist' because Number 2 Daughter insisted on getting her bike out of the garage and the garage door got stuck, meaning the landlord's other half had to come round to try and fix it. We were already late leaving because she'd gone out and leaving the garage door half open wasn't an option. We're hoping to go and see it tomorrow night.

been brave enough to let the twins go into Ipswich on the train, alone. Well, I say alone. Originally they were supposed to go with a group of friends from school, who all dropped out from the trip for varying reasons. They asked Luke if he wanted to join them and off they pootled to go and see Hancock. They loved it and they didn't die!

joined Plurk and gotten addicted to micro-blogging. (I blame Rammi ;oP)

spent a lot of time away from the computer. I know it's a secret ploy by KT to keep me away from my own machine every time he gets his infected. I've missed it a bit - partly because I have been composing blogs and micro blogs all week in my head and haven't been able to put them into a post.

missed coming to check up on my Vox neighbours but a cursory glance shows there has been very little activity anyway - where are you all!?

been all excited, waiting for 'The Journey's End.' I wasn't disappointed. It was funny, it was sad, it brought a prophesy to life, it opened new doors and closed old ones.

watched Scouts pull slimy bits of seaweed off the beach and try claiming them for more than one option on a scavenger hunt list.

laughed at Number Two Son's foreign accent on the phone. He almost fooled me for a minute or three.

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Shop, Shop, Shop, Shop!

nobody@vox.com(Lizzie) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:15:49 +0100

KT finally took everything he needed to off his pute so we could take it in for a fix. It's been slow for a few months now and even when he first managed to get infected with the Beetle virus that's doing the rounds, he still insisted on logging onto Facebook and Online Football Manager and Runescape and the sites that probably gave him the virus in the first place, because he is such an addict! He's planning to spend the time apart from his beloved PC by catching up on his list of 'Things To Do' and playing on the PS2 and to tell the truth, I hope that the place he's left the computer at takes it's own sweet time fixing it up so he can get on with stuff.

As we were headed towards the far end of Ipswich for that anyway, we decided to do a mega shop trawl. We started off in ASDA where I got some Weed and Feed and he got some new t-shirts (3.50 each, bargain!). Leenda - the vinegar does kill the dandelion scourge, but it's gonna take far too much of it to kill them off completely, so I am calling my experiment to an end. Mind you, it did make the old danders brown up quite quickly. The chemical solution is my next attempt - mostly because I want green grass, bright, luscious, greenery. A quick moan about the woman behind the customer service counter at ASDA though. It's the second time I have asked this woman to unlock the disabled changing room for me, with KT in plain view, and the second time she looked me up and down with the sourest face you have ever seen. (In fact, I bet she could have wiped out my dandelions with that sour puss of hers) I was more than happy to whinge loudly about her to KT when we were in the changing room directly behind where she was standing. Oh yes. Passed a long queue coming into ASDA as we left and decided we'd timed that right.

We then headed to Morrisons where KT bought a new PS2 memory card (Number One Son took ours back to Northampton with him by mistake, so we've got saves for lots of fighting games and he's now got 6 different characters for Tiger Woods Golf Tour) and I bought myself a stockpot for £8.99. Total bargain as it's more than big enough to cope with our lot. Ooh, and two packs of Picota cherries that had been reduced. I just adore cherries! Past a long queue coming into Morrisons car park as we left and congratulated our timing.

From Morrisons we went to drop off the pute, which took us back past ASDA. KT invoked the new slogan for our family - 'Mum knows best' (I'd said we should have dropped the computer off first so we could wind our way backwards, but you know blokes like to make it look like they know what they are doing.). I went into the shop to explain the problems KT's computer has been having and when I mentioned the beetles, the tech who'd come to carry the tower in almost rubbed his hands with glee as he guffawed and said 'Oh that's a bad one'. Managed to miss the long queue of traffic that was threatening to come our way - I mentioned we were having good luck with the journey and KT said I'd jinxed us.

We headed to PC World to get KT a copy of Kaspersky, ready to keep his computer (when it comes home to him) in better health. I've been ~~whinging~~ mentioning how we should get a Buzz! game for us all to play and one of his mates had said how much fun it was, so when he saw a copy of Buzz! Hollywood with buzzers for a bargain price, he snapped that up. The kids have already planned a game into their weekend. Left PC World car park just as there was a sudden rush towards the Pizza Hut next door. Decided we weren't jinxed, after all.

Tescos next, but they didn't have the patio set I have been after, so we stocked up on some squash for the kids and some giant tongs for me before heading back to the carpark where I took a swig of my water that I had left on the dashboard and which almost scalded my mouth. It's supposed to be 28 blooming degrees tomorrow - how will I ever cope!? On the plus side, the traffic on our side of the road was moving swiftly - on the other carraigeway it was at a standstill.

By now it was past 3 o'clock and we headed to Argos where I found out that my second choice patio set was going to be available on Tuesday and that there were four sets coming. In the five seconds it took me to walk to the tills, all four of them had been reserved for other people, so I contented myself with buying 8 new canvases. I have painting plans in mind.

By now, we were both shattered so I opted to try and get acrylic paints from The Range instead of going into town for them. The girls have been given mini paint by numbers kits to complete to finish off their craft badges, but one has ginger kittens and the other a golden labrador. The kits aren't designed with the idea of being able to complete the painting and cover the whole mini canvas, so I had to get them some more yellow ochre as I was all out of that in my own set. Mind you, I found when wandering about, an even cheaper range of colours than I had already looked at so I got a nice selection of bigger tubes to come home with me. (More paint + Cheaper price = Happy Frog). KT got lost trying to leave the car park.

KT was ecstatic that I'd gotten the paint from the Range so we went to Lidl for a quick nosey and were entertained first by the Asian guy who stuck his face against the driver's side window to see where KT disappeared to when he pulled his chair away from the steering wheel and then gawped as the ramp was used and then by the blatant lies coming out of the mouth of the woman in front of us in the queue (long story but it made us wonder how people can expect to get away with such lies). Sometimes it takes ages to be able to leave the car park - today it was in mere minutes. Definately not jinxed - blessed seems more like it.

Finally we started home, and I just happened to mention that we hadn't made a trip to Sainsburys and how it would feel left out and KT said something very rude. Traffic was excellent on the way home.

I made little cake thingies for the girls and I whilst they caught up with the latest news from the Big Brother house. (KT had about a tonne of left over chili to get through and didn't want any - personally, I think he was mourning the loss of his computer, the big gaping hole on his computer desk mocking him). I cooked some strawberries in some sugar and a little water the other day and made a kind of runny jam thang. I put about a teaspoon of that on a slice of chocolate chip cake from ASDA, put on some low-fat black cherry yogurt from Tesco, sliced up strawberries and put a few slices on the yogurt. Another slice of cake, another dollop of yogurt, most sliced strawberry and oh my, yummy!

We stopped at the local Morrisons on the way home from KT's so we could get some kind of garden furniture before everywhere runs out. Number Two Daughter decided she would come out with me and so got to choose between a small round table and four chairs or a long table with two benches. We now have two big boxes sat in the porch waiting for us to make them up into ... a long table and matching benches. A snip at £80, that's some of the money from my one and only bet used.

I've just looked at the clock and it's 00.15 on Tuesday morning and I am not tired. I was convinced I would be so ready for bed tonight with all the walking as well!

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The Ruins

nobody@vox.com(Lizzie) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:15:24 +0100

KT and I went to see this at the end of last week and we both quite anjoyed it. There weren't too many goofs to distract us from the story, well, there was one major one where someone's blown off nose grew back for a later shot, but you know, whateverrrr.

I jumped twice, which instantly gives the film a fairly good rating in my mind. KT jumped three times (including once at the beginning when I timed the music to perfection before slapping his hand - oooh yeah) which bumps it up some more.

Loved the effects for the flowers, especially when they were vibrating. This was a pretty enjoyable little horror film.

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Queen Of Random - Microwaved Mash

nobody@vox.com(Lizzie) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 10:46:36 +0100

Me: Number 2 Daughter, time to cook your mash
N2D runs to the kitchen...
Microwave starts up
N2D: Oh shhhh.....
Microwave: Ping!
N2D: I forgot to put the dish in!

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Pretty Bleeping Funny

nobody@vox.com(Lizzie) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 10:32:27 +0100

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The Elastic String Has Killed My Brain

nobody@vox.com(Lizzie) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 18:26:40 +0100

I've just had the sweetest young girl and her friend (who seemed to be trying to hide behind my honeysuckle) knock (rather ferociously, I might add) at the door to let me know I'd left the keys in it.

I. Am. A Dipstick.

Thanks girls!

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I Know What I'm Going To Be Dreaming About Tonight...

nobody@vox.com(Lizzie) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 18:24:36 +0100

it will involve elastic string and me trying to make it stay knotted. There will be hundreds of shell keyrings and tri-bead bracelets and I shall be the one trying to keep up to task with keeping them tied so the beads (and shell bits - don't forget the shell bits) don't go flying everywhere.

Happy 9th Birthday for Monday for B though - she and her pals certainly seemed to enjoy her craft party.

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It's Incredible

nobody@vox.com(Lizzie) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 18:00:53 +0100

We took the kids to see The Incredible Hulk last night. Amazingly, just for once, everyone enjoyed the film. In my view, the film was faithful to the TV show and the comics, had plenty of references to both to look out for and wasn't too bad a story either. The CGI wasn't over the top, in fact it was quite realistic apart from 'The Abomination' being just a little too cartoony for my liking. The only other thing I didn't like was that Tim Roth's character is supposed to be a military man of long standing, yet his hair was uncut and unkempt and he swaggered about as if he was more of a Cockney Spiv. He also wore the same uniform as General Ross at one stage which I didn't agree with - it should have been a British Marine one, but maybe I am just too picky!

On the whole, it was a very enjoyable film. ITV1 is showing Ang Lee's Hulk right now and it's showing all over again why I hated that version.

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The School Inspector

nobody@vox.com(Lizzie) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:23:30 +0100

There was an OFSTED school inspector sharing anecdotes on the radio this afternoon. He told three stories of note.

The first was when he got to watch a school nativity. The little girl playing Mary burst in to tears and he bent down and asked her what her name was. She told him it was Mary. He said 'Mary, what's up?'. Her reply?

'Everyone keeps saying my name and that I'm a virgin and I'm not!'

The second was that he went into a classroom and was thoroughly impressed that everytime the teacher asked a question, every pupil put their hand up. The teacher would pick a child and each time a correct answer was given. He later learned that the teacher had told the kids that the school inspector was coming and that when she asked questions, she wanted them all to put their hand up, but if they didn't know the answer, to put up their left hand and if they did, to raise their right.

The third anecdote involved a young man who sidled in close to him and 'pss-ing' in his ear, said he knew how babies were made and asked did he? The inspector said yes he did and when the lad asked him how then, he told him that he'd tell him after he told the inspector first. 'Wellllll,' he said, 'you knock off the y and add ies.'

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Duh Moment of the Day - Gas

nobody@vox.com(Lizzie) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:10:31 +0100

Picture the scene. KT and I were walking through Ipswich, when my nostrils were assailed by a strong smell of gas. It's one of the things I am hyper sensitive to so we weren't surprised to see a British Gas van parked around the corner. What we were surprised at was the woman who hurried out of the snooker club, fag in hand, who stopped by the side of the gas van and even though KT and I were discussing the strength of the smell, lit her cigarette. I mean come on!

In the shop we were heading to they were complaining of feeling sick and having headaches due to the gas, but this woman, either had no sense of smell or was just a complete pilchard. I'm just glad it wasn't a heavy leak because I don't want to be blown to smithereens by a half-wit.

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