Caption, anyone?

Beth carries Louis up, and puts him in her bed.. but he quite happily settles himself down, and stays there for a while. Silly cat! LOL

(Click on the pic for a larger size.)

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Pay!

Nurses, teachers, social workers, police, and similar – these are all people who provide a service for the public.. and none of them are easy jobs. Considering what these jobs consist of, in my opinion, none of them are paid enough, then on top of that, they keep getting given below inflation pay rises.

When is this Government of ours going to realise that these are important people, doing important jobs. Yes, I’m a nurse, so I fall into this category, but this is about this huge group of people in general. Even if I wasn’t a nurse, I’m sure I’d still feel the same.

House prices have flown up recently, petrol has reached an all time high, gas and electricity companies are all announcing huge rises.. it goes on and on. This means that year after year, public sector workers are falling further and further behind. I wonder how many will still be able to afford to stay in their careers a few years down the line?

Sorry, rant over!

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Again, again and again…

I seem to be caught in a strange loop at the moment.. I am constantly washing clothes, ironing clothes, putting clothes away, getting clothes out for the next day – and just as I finish all that, it needs doing again!

We need to move somewhere hot, and run around naked!

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Ok.. maybe not! LOL

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Yet another online time wasting application!

Yes, I’ve finally joined facebook! I can’t really decide what I think of it.. it can be a fairly amusing waste of time (throwing sheep at people, for example), but every single thing you do on there seems to be a new, separate application. There are TONS of these, so of course, most profiles are full of different things.. and a bit of a mess! And for someone obsessed with neatness (and before anyone says anything, I mean online, not my home.. or writing! lol), it’s a bit frustrating!

However, unlike MySpace, you can’t start changing colours and backgrounds.. so at least the profiles stay readable! Mind you, one popular application has skins, which changes it’s appearance, so I’m sure many more will follow.. and before long, facebook profiles will also be a mass of clashing colours, and annoying flashing graphics! (Sorry, ranting again!)

Oh.. searching for friends is also a little odd – if you pop in a name, you get presented with a long list.. but you can’t view their profiles until you add them as a friend. So, if it’s someone you haven’t seen for a while, you can’t wander through the different profiles, and see if you recognise the person in question.

You can however, search for email addresses in your webmail address books.. this has allowed me to find a couple of old friends, which was interesting! It’ll be be interesting to see if where that leads.

So, when is someone going to make the perfect social networking site? You should be able to present basic info to all, then the rest to those you know. It should be possible to divide your friends list into groups, such as ‘friends’, ‘work’, ‘networking’ etc. There should be a basic profile, where everything is nicely laid out, then links to all the other bits.

Plus, of course, no clashing colours and flashing graphics! LOL

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Bye bye bunkbeds…

We’ve been having a problem with Beth.. when it comes to bedtime, she can spend hours getting more and more anxious and upset – she can’t sleep, she’s having nightmares, she’s heard noises etc. This is something that has happened on and off during her little life, including some actual night terrors when younger.

At present, she’s much happier being with someone, rather than stuck in her top bunk. She keeps trying to get in with us, or she’ll sleep with her sister, which I’m sure is too crowded.

So, after a suggestion from my mum, and a discussion with hubby and Beth, we’re separated the beds, and put them side by side. The biggest problem is that they completely take over the room, and there’s only just enough room to move around them! However, neither Beth nor Amy use the floor space to play on (preferring to drag everything down, and make a mess in my lounge instead!), so that doesn’t really matter.. and I guess they can play ON the beds. It’s also more comfy for them to sit and watch a DVD, and hey.. less to vacuum! LOL

I just hope it works, and she feels more secure at night.

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Books!

I’ve had a bit of trouble getting into my books recently, and I’ve just put a couple back on the shelf, unfinished.

Today I met one of the ladies from the forum, and we decided to meet in Lakeside. Not only did we have a lovely time, but the first two shops we walked into were Waterstones and The Works! In the first shop, I found a copy of Life of Pi.. this is a book we’re discussing on the book forum, but I hadn’t decided whether to read it. However, there on the shelf was the hardback, illustrated version, for just £4.99! I actually think that having it in that format makes it look more appealing, so I’ll be picking it up soon.

In The Works, I found a hardback copy of John, for just £3.99 – this is a biography of John Lennon, written by his first wife, Cynthia. I don’t often read biographies, but I’m looking forward to this one.

Oh, and from amazon yesterday came Neil Gaiman’s Smoke and Mirrors, and Patrick Gale’s Notes From An Exhibition. I recently read Neverwhere, and I tend to enjoy short stories, so I’m looking forward to Smoke and Mirrors. And Notes From An Exhibition looks like the sort of thing I enjoy.

So… what am I doing writing on here.. I need to go read! LOL

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An Award!

I’ve been given an award! 🙂  Many thanks to Rosie for passing it on to me.

So, who to pass it onto? I’m going to go for:

Jen’s Hot And Sweet Blog

This Closet Isn’t Big Enough

Steps of a Dancewriter 

Cinthia’s Spinnings

There’s one problem though.. those given this award are supposed to post 7 random or weird things about themselves, and I’m useless at coming up with things like that! So, I’m going to try a different approach, and I’m going to ask YOU, my friends and readers, to come up with those random or weird things that you know about me! Of course, there’s nothing weird about me at all, is there……?!

Looking forward to your comments… I think! lol

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Go Go Go Joseph!

About 6 months ago, we watched Any Dream Will Do, which was a TV show to find a new star for Joseph. As much as I had a soft spot for the runner up, it became more and more obvious that Lee Mead was going to win.. especially after his fantastic rendition of Paint It Black.

Finally today Beth and I went up to The Strand to watch him perform in the musical.. and it was fantastic! Lee glided out onto the stage, with a big smile on his face, looking as if it was his first performance.. and before doing anything, he was clapped and cheered!

What impressed me the best was his enthusiasm.. he’s being doing the show regularly for months now, and yet he bounds around the stage. You can tell that each and every performance matters to him.

The rest of the cast were great as well, injecting energy and humour into each performance.. Beth particularly enjoyed the Pharaoh.

After the actual story was finished, Lee came out and performed Close Every Door To Me with the children’s choir, and then the cast performed a very energetic mega-mix of songs. The grand finale was Lee lifted up on a tiny stage. Being up in the Upper Circle, it brought us a little closer, and he waved to us all! LOL

To finish the evening, we stayed outside to see Lee. he gave out signed photos, then squiggled in a few programs! I have to say, seeing him close up.. he is rather cute!

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