FINISHED!

It took a while (and its actually been done for a bit now) but we finally finished all the work on our spare room!

It was a long old job and there were many things along the way which tested our patients! Poor Amanda nearly threw the towel in when she set about ripping up the floorboards to lay some new electric cables.. only to find the underneath of the floorboards were attached to the ceiling in the dining room!! That made for an interesting few moments.. and we still have a portion of ceiling missing - but it adds character!

I spent most of my time so high on Nitromors I didn't know what was happening!!

But finally it is done.. and now we are ready to receive visitors.. all you who are planning a visit - please give as much notice as possible! Our B&B rates are very favourable!

WE MADE A NEW FRIEND!
Today we spent a healthy number of hours messing about in the snow, getting rather wet and cold, yet oddly refreshing.
A fair dump of snow came down overnight, so like two big kids we donned our wellies and waterproofs and made good use of the fluffy white stuff, or so we think anyway!
We did start with a magnificent specimen, he had legs, arms.. the works, then I got a bit carried away with the 'shaving' and the effin thing fell over.. after 2 hours of rolling, patting and shaping! Not deterred, we started again, with a less ambitious creation! We stuck to the standard two ball affair, then added bits as we went.
Our new friend, coming in at just under 6 foot - has beennamed Deborah, complete with snowhawk.. she has avocado eyes and beer bottle buttons, not your average lumps of old coal. We hope that she will be around for a few days anyway.
If the weather is the same tomorrow, we may make her a little friend. Watch this space!

MORE THAN A LICK OF PAINT!
For some reason, a reason which escapes me at the moment, we decided it would be a good idea to start work on our spare room. Possibly the thought of summer approaching (well, nearly) and visitors flocking to our home and needing somewhere to sleep, may have spurred us on.
We always knew it was going to be more than a lick of paint, as this was the room where the roof had been leaking into. The room always had a damp smell about it, hardly any wonder when we think back to the buckets full of water we had collected over the past few months due to the shit shite weather we have been experiencing!
Last Sunday, we set about with a few tools, which pleased Percy no end! After an hour of scraping off loose plaster and 4 bin bags of rubble, we realised it was more of a project than a cosmetic spruce up! To me, it felt like we were making one bloody big mess and the house was at risk of falling down, but Percy assures me its all good and nothing to worry about, but it will get worse before it gets better - comforting words from someone who knows the score.. so I will ride with that for now!
However, we did uncover a rather fab brick chimney breast, which we are planning to clean down and leave exposed, so there was a silver lining in our shitty cloud!
Next step is to replace the supporting beam, which is rotten from all of the water damage from the roof, get it all plastered, the hot water tank has now been moved into the corner, so that can be boxed in, it will all take shape, eventually, bit by bit - and when it does... you will get an invite, but not all at once!
Watch this space for more DIY updates.. and I promise to blog a bit more often!

WHILE THE CAT'S AWAY!

Friday evening saw us driving like fat-heads in chronic weather conditions, to the Trafford Centre in Manchester, to meet up with newly married smashing gal-pal, Doz and her gaylord brother Gaz, to catch up with the latest of the Saw movies.

In a bid to keep Doz (short for Victoria) occupied whilst her dearly beloved Jessica is living it up in the USA - we thought it a good idea to pop to the cinema and inflict upon ourselves 108 minutes of gore induced dismemberment and self inflicted torture - all that with an added touch of compassion, paternal love and forgiveness.

Arriving a few minutes late and positioning ourselves in the closest seats to the front so as not to cause a kerfuffle, we soon got to grips with the storyline - although, having seen the previous Saw films, it doesn't take Einstein to work out what was going on! We had all heard hideous reviews about the latest installment from Mr Jigsaw - people getting up and walking out of the cinema, some unfortunates saying hello to their popcorn as sharpish as they had shovelled it down their necks, some even requiring medical attention upon exiting the cinema - surely it couldn't really be this bad.

Within 10 minutes of sitting down, Amanda and Doz were watching most of the movie from behind their jumpers - which had been pulled up over their faces to try to hide out the hideous story which was unfolding in front of them! Gaz and I remained visually open throughout - I'm not really fazed by blood & guts and neither was Gaz, we even took time out to take the piss out of the guy sat next to us, who apart from rattling his effing popcorn throughout, was sporting a rather amusing arron jumper - I wasn't aware such things still existed!

It started with an interesting premise but quickly squandered it on the usual barely-glimpsed bloodbaths and deathtraps increasingly ludicrous in their mad-lab ingenuity. One chap, for instance, found himself in a vat slowly filling with the liquefied remains of maggot-ridden pig corpses, which were dumped into what I can only call a huge industrial juicer - this scene was the worst for Amanda! My particular favourite was the DIY brain surgery, with a comedy line thrown in, Ol' Jigsaw hasn't been feeling too posh lately, what with this inoperable brain tumour and the like, so he found himself a surgeon, in a bid that she would be able to put him right - the classic line came as she revved up the power drill and said "you might feel a bit of discomfort".. understatement of the year there love!

Anyway - the film ended, still with Amanda and Doz hiding - the cinema had an odd silence about it, obviously most people were feeling "a little unwell" and would be heading for the loos, rather than the string of restaurants close by!

We all went for a cheeky half before going our separate ways - a most enjoyable evening - although I somehow fear the Doz won't be jumping on the funbus when Saw 4 is announced!

POOR GIRL!
Pictured above with the angelic smile is Emily, niece of me and obviously daughter of my big brother and his lovely wife. For some time now, people, they know who they are, have commented how much Emily is like me 'when I was young' - I can sort of see it, she is a bit cheeky, a bit rum and also rather cute!
The pinnacle moment for me, when I realised how much like me she was, was upon viewing this picture - there has been a mix up at the mouth factory, we have matching mouths (and matching eye bags, there is an explanation for those!) The poor poor girl, how must she feel when people say to her 'oh, you are just like your Aunty C' - it's enough to send anyone over the edge!
I was listening with interest to a radio programme the other day, there was some old fuddy duddy bleating on about having a 'favourite child' - whether its the first born or the last born, or in some awkward persons case the 4th born! It made me think back to the arrival of my nieces.

I remember with infinite detail, sitting outside the ward, with an oversized yellow fluffy duck, when Abigail (pictured right) was born, I was almost wetting myself with excitement. That was just the start of the obsession really. When we moved house, I found at least 40 packets of photographs, just of Abi, sitting, smiling, sleeping, giggling, crying, looking, eating, colouring.. anything she possibly did, I had a picture of her doing it - and more besides. Now, Emily - there honestly aren't half as many photographs - which leads me to think, I am guilty of having a favourite - but this can't be so!

My brother and his brood are to visit us this weekend, which will be most pleasant - I will check with them about the alleged favouritism - and see if they have noticed it, or have indeed been guilty of it themselves.

MUSHROOM MYSTERY
After recently visiting a local hostelry and sampling their 'sizzling mushroom' starter - I decided I could replicate the said dish in the comfort of my own kitchen! Armed the other night with only mushrooms, butter, cream, thyme, salt & pepper, I came fairly close, much to my amazement, but there was definitely some key factors missing.. firstly the 'sizzle' and secondly garlic.

Off to the shop I popped, a basket full of mushroom sizzling ingredients and back to the chopping board.

Mushrooms, garlic, mascarpone, cream, thyme, butter, white wine and some olive oil.. slapped it all in the pan at various stages and came up with something that resembled 'sizzling mushrooms' - but still no sizzle! In my excitement I left the pan for a few short seconds to get the attention of Amanda, my chief taster! Upon returning to the stove, I thought the dog had been in and sicked in the pan - my concoction had curdled and turned into a terrible looking mess - still no sizzle though!

If you closed your eyes and didn't look at the pile of sick on your plate, they actually tasted rather nice, they just looked vile. It won't put me off trying again, I will master the sizzle and I shall not curdle!

THE FRANKSTER - so not bobbins!

Some people just don't get it, I understand that, I can't really pinpoint what it is about Frank Sidebottom, but to me he is a God. Funny beyond belief and as northern as they come, its a winner every time.

Having not seen Frank for about 12 years, when I clocked that he was playing the Lowry I just had to book tickets, straight away. Breaking the news to Amanda wasn't easy, she quite bluntly hates him, I know, some people have no taste!

Anyway, last Friday we tottered off to Manchester, me rather excited and Amanda mainly quiet! She was convinced we would be the only people in the theatre, I chose to ignore her negative comments - luckily we weren't, as I would never have lived it down! There were all sorts of people there, granted some looked rather odd, but others looked quite normal - us included, I hope!

The show was 2 hours (with a little interval) and I ached from laughing, throughout. He did quite a bit of stuff which I was familiar with and a few new bits thrown in for good measure. Little Frank and Little Denise also put in an appearance. Amanda was crying with laughter, later she insists it was tears of disbelief that people actually found him funny.. but I saw her laughing, I know I did!

Another cracking night to add to our list of acts we have seen this year, Robbie was a highlight, but I think Frank has just pipped him to the post! You know he has, he really has - Thank you!