Makes me feel normal !

Aussies

Pen & Jon's Wedding - The UK Leg

Awwwwwww it was just like the wedding all over again! Not as many piccies this time tho - I was dancing too much!!! I think there may be some very embarrassing ones of Claire and I doing batman impressions with our dresses!!!!! They should just be grateful I didn't do the 'Peter Kay' thing that little kids do at weddings - which is running to get up some speed and then sliding along on my knees! Anyway....I wasn't the only one doing some groovy dancing....see the next post for the 'Dad Dance' video.

Gemma & Andy's wedding

We were totally chuffed to be invited to G&A's evening do! It was at Oakwell Hall in Gomersal - the wedding was in the house and then the party was in a fab barn in the grounds. Dan's sis Marina was a bridesmaid - loads of drunken dancing pics here ----> G&A's wedding pictures
They're having their honeymoon in the states at the moment - hope they're having a fabby time.

More Indian food

We've been going a bit mad recently, using the Indian Food Made Easy book which Janie bought for us. Even to the extent that we've made chapattis, chutney, and of course LOADS of the curries. We have a couple which are emerging as firm favorites; one from the book, and one which was given to us by a colleague of Dan's wife. The chapattis must be the easiest thing to make (I had no idea!) and we've made them 4 times now...yes in the one week! You can see them puffing up in the pan in the picture.....fab! The 1st time we made them, we also did a chicken curry (it was supposed to be lamb in the book but we did a L&D variation!) and a green minty chutney which was really superb. Hopefully you can see from the piccies how authentic it all looks!
Since then we've done a couple of variations with chicken thighs and also with squash & cauliflower which make fab curries! IMO!

25th Wedding Anniversary

25 years ago tomorrow (18th) Janie and I were beautiful bridesmaids at the wedding of our good friends Manda & Richard. It was the 1st time we'd been bridesmaids and it was SOOOOO exciting. We were in very pretty little white dresses with pink flowers on. Pink flowers in our hair and in our bouquets (all silk, beautiful) Proper bridesmaidey stuff. A couple of weeks ago when we were with M&D for the 40th Wedding celebrations, we were talking about the wedding - and we dug out the dresses. Amazingly Janey could still get into hers (from she was 10 years old!!!) My left boob wouldn't have fitted into mine, but Mary B pinned it onto the front of my frock so it *looked* like I was wearing it. We were all hysterical! They got flowers from the vase and we held them like a bouquet, and took piccies. Anyway, as all the laughing and joking ensued, we thought wouldn't it be a nice thing to do to send Manda and Richard a card with a piccie of their beautiful bridesmaids on, m25 years later. So, that was my task on Saturday morning. I went to WH Smith and bought card and 'stuff' for card making. Very nice indeed....here is the finished result.....!
I took the pics on my phone so they're not mega clear but you get the gist! The original pic is here. Scary stuff!

Not many blogs last week - Sorry Ruth!

Apologies for not writing much over the last week or so - we had such a lot on the week before (hence all the posts) and this week it's been quite chaotic at work for both of us so neither of us has felt like logging on again once we've got home! But we have done a few bits over the weekend - blog entries to follow for them!

With Pavarotti gone, how about this guy?

Nice BBQ

We had a lovely tea last night - a BBQ and Pimms! I bought some of the very nice burgers from Sainblobs which are extremely good. We also made 'camping potatoes' which are spuds cooked in a pan of water first and then fried off to make them nice and golden. We finished them off on the BBQ too which always makes me feel like they're proper 'outdoor food'!

Air Guitar

Watched a mad film last night called air guitar nation !

Some mad people out there, but i reckon that years ago if leif had entered he would have won it hands down!

See the trailer for the film below

Indian Cooking

Found a great website for spices and things called spicesofindia that we are going to use for curries etc.

Have a look around and see what you think., Quick service and loads of stuff.

Leeds United

I thought i would leave it a while until i posted about Leeds United.

But we now have a big zero point of the best start to the season since 1973 !

(Going back a bit ) Rome Jan 2007

In January, Mum, Janie and I went on our (nearly) annual trip to Rome! We stayed in the most spectacular Hotel Forum and had the best laugh on one of the nights that any of us have had for years! All the pictures are on my picassa web albums -----> here.

Mobile Blogging

Finally I have found a way of getting photos directly from my phone to the blog! Yippee! I think I'm going to post things far more often.

IBM

Wonder if they are going to do this ?




Made me laugh anyhow

The story of the pumps

It was the week before going back to school, and I was aged maybe about 6 or 7. I was wearing my new black school pumps whilst playing in the park behind our house. In those days. before mum put up the 6 foot electrified fence with the spotlights and razor wire, we used to have a style to climb over into the park. When the big lawnmower/tractor thing used to mow the lawn, quite often it would leave very large ruts in the edges of the field - which happened to be just the bit in front of our style - and as you can imagine, when it rained, these bits got a bit boggy.

So I was coming back home after playing and my foot (and half of my leg) got caught down a rut. When I pulled my leg out, the pump wasn't on my foot any more. We searched and searched but the pump wasn't to be found. I was inconsolable. I knew how much money mum and dad had (or rather didn't) and I knew I shouldn't really have been wearing my new black pumps for playing out in. It was terrible. Or so I felt at the time.

It just so happens that Mum was telling the ladies this sad and sorry tale, and so last weekend at M&D's the following happened......

Liza here is a gift for you - they said.....









Open the box and look inside................









Is it something you recognise??????????









I wonder what it can be...........................









Is it something you lost?...........................

Awwww very cute little pumps. I feel better now I have a new pair :-)

Houseproud?

Nothing fancy, but, in the light of the new, cleared front garden, path, and driveway (in the post-skip universe) I've bought a couple of standard plants to make it look like we care about the place in which we live! Aren't they cute? Apparently need re-trimming once a year to make them lollypop shaped again, but that's it. Easy this gardenin' lark, innit?

Sr Loretta

Well I remember her being slight, but I thought it was only your old school *building* you were supposed to look at after 20 years and say 'gosh it's smaller than I remember', not the headmistress but in fact, Sr Loretta is definitely smaller than I recall - and - it has only been 7 or 8 years since I've seen her.
Saying that tho, she looks fantastic. Her laser beam eyes are still able to penetrate right into your innermost thoughts - noone could ever lie to her - and her energies are focussed these days, not on keeping 500 convent schoolgirls under control, but on campaigning for peace and justice across the world. Something she probably finds quite relaxing in comparison!
She is such an amazingly interesting and intelligent person. Totally one of my life heroes! I could just sit and listen to her talk, knowledgeably, on just about any subject.
It's a bit of a late one tonight as it was a trip to Bromborough and back (180m round trip). She's worth it!

40th Wedding Weekend - Liza & Dan's Photos

More pictures from the weekend from Liza & Dan ----> here.

Mad Cow Disease - Update

All clear on the western front! After having gone back to the doc's last week with a lump in my right boob which seemed to be remaining, even after the completion of my antibiotic course, I was referred to a consultant to have a little look-see.
I went to the appointment at the Nuffield Hospital in Leeds City centre on Friday morning.
May I just add an aside here - I'm not so wierd as to be taking pictures of the hospital for my blog - but - it just so happens, that Jacquie's grandma was born right next to Leighton St in Leeds - where the Nuffield happens to be, and so a couple of years ago when we were doing some genealogy/family research, we happened to snap these pics! Little did I know!
Anyway, a very charming man, Mr Horgan seems to be pretty senior in the grand scheme of things. I googled him of course! He came out to get me from the waiting room and proceeded to chat away very charmingly. Needless to say, an examination ensued. As I was laid on the couch (nurse-chaperone present of course) he said, 'you know what we do when we find a lump like this? We stick a little needle in to find out what's in it'. OH MY GOODNESS I thought to myself. Good job I was lying down or else I think I'd have fainted on the spot. I kind of knew this might happen, but I really only thought I was going for a mammogram this time!!!! Fortunately he's a bit quick on the draw, as the needle was in before I could really think about it, and the unpleasantness came more from the fact that I thought 'euwghhh he's scooping bits of my boob out' more than actual pain. It was uncomfortable as much as anything.
So tonight, I'm just back from the very lovely BUPA hozzie in Leeds for part 2 of the consultation which consisted of a mammogram, including 6 shots of my right boob and 3 of my left (totally not painful), and an ultrasound (ticklish).
This being the private sector and not the NHS, although I was there most of the evening - from 7-9:30 - they did my various scans and I also saw Mr Horgan again, who has declared me to be a healthy individual who just has a bit of a boob lump as a result of having had an infection in it.
A checkup will follow in 4 weeks time, but that's it!
SUPER!

40th Wedding Weekend - Mum's Photos

I've just uploaded Mum's pics from her camera up on to Picassa -----> here.

40th Wedding Weekend - Part 2

On Sunday, after Mass and our pleasant lunch at Thornton Hall, M&D had an 'at home' with the usual gang. For some reason, even though we'd not laid on a massive spread, or had gallons of wine to drink, it was a particularly lovely occasion with much silliness and merriment! Dressing up was the order of the day - with Janie getting into Mum's wedding dress - complete with shoes and Miss Havisham style bouquet - for photos. We even showed everyone Nonna's teeny tiny wedding shoes and lovely dress & jacket. They'd not seen them before. So small! It was a fab end to a special weekend.

40th Wedding Weekend - Part 1

It's been a lovely weekend at home with Mum and Dad for their wedding anniversary celebrations. Firstly we had a lovely pic-nic in the grounds of Tatton Park in Knutsford where we used to go many years ago (my last trip there was 24 years ago!) The picnic consisted of Dad's fabulous hot chicken sarnies, sausages and salad, 2 bottles of champers, cups of tea and about 3 hours of chilling out! Check out the fab party paper cups and plates and matching tablecloth! Wonderful. We went round the mansion at the end of the afternoon - it was smaller than I remember - and then wobbled our way home, tired and happy after a lovely day.