Top Notch Tuesday!

Yesterday was Top Notch Tuesday!

It starts getting busier from here on in - it's a 'day' almost every day!

It was a good day, managed to walk to and from work without any slips etc in the snow, also managed to get in the flat without any difficulty (yay!) when I got home, had steak for tea (desperately trying to make some room in my freezer before more shopping arrives on Friday), finished making all my Christmas cards and decorations, even made a start on wrapping presents (which means the Sherry had to come out of course!)! Oh, and got some Top Notch news last night which means I'm REALLY looking forward to the weekend!

Here are some photos of the walk to work in the snow - most of it was like walking through the wardrobe to approach Narnia!

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No Rude Words Allowed Day!

Yesterday was No Rude Words Allowed Day!

FAIL, FAIL, FAIL!

After giving Dennis feedback about his use of rude words in the office I'm ashamed to say that I let the side down badly when I got home, just as it started snowing again, and couldn't get into the building! I've somehow managed to bend the key! So I had visions of having to sit in the snow on my doorstep and wait at least an hour for Bernie to rescue me with my spare keys - luckily I managed to bend it back just enough to force it in the door (but Bernie's on standby just in case I can't do the same tonight!)! I don't remember exactly but I'd be very surprised if rude words weren't included in my furious doorstep mutterings!

Must try harder!

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Big Breakfast Saturday!

Today is Big Breakfast Saturday!

I was originally planning to do the whole full English thing but a recent reintroduction to my sandwich toaster derailed my plans (yes Bernie, it's your fault!)!

So, instead I thought I'd have my favourite toasties!

Ingredients
Onion
Green pepper
Mushroom
Sweetcorn
Tinned beans and sausages
Tomato
Cheese
Oh yeah, and bread obviously!

These are toasties that definitely require a knife and fork! Messy but soooo worth it!

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Telling All Your Friends How Brilliant They Are Day!

Today is Telling All My Friends How Brilliant They Are Day!

I did this using the powers of facebook, Royal Mail and magnetism (sounds like I'm building up to a Blue Peter special - and look what I made earlier!)

I was accused of cheating by some (by using facebook), stating the obvious by others (on facebook) and making some cry at work (Royal Mail)! The magnets were well received - although we've discovered that there's not much that's actually made of metal in the office to stick them to!



Anyway, hopefully one way or another the message was received - all my friends are brilliant!

I'll tell you what else is brilliant (no, no, NOT cheesy peas - or milk!)........ Movember. Movember is brilliant! Movember raises funds and awareness of prostate cancer, the most common cancer in men in the UK. Some chaps at the office are dutifully growing facial hair, any donations are more tham welcome here El Mustachio, all donations from Movember go to The Prostate Cancer Charity.


The Three Moustacheers: Neil Smith, Matteo Sole andTony Dell showing off the shape of things to come!

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Cheery Tuesday!

Today is Cheery Tuesday!

I've actually felt surprisingly cheery! Had I been capable of it I might have even skipped to work, seriously!

I think it may have something to do with being back at work (yes, that's right, I did say that my cheeriness may have something to do with being back at work!), almost five weeks of my own company has taken its toll - I really don't know how everyone else copes with me and I now have a finer appreciation of the effort required by those hardy souls who choose to count me amongst their friends and family (well, obviously there's not much my family can do about it!) - although it's been very tiring (and it's only been 2 days) it's very good to be back in the land of the living!

I received a lovely invitation to a party in December for a very dear friend (don't worry Kevin, I won't mention which birthday it is!) and Boss arrived here today for a couple of days which is always a morale boosting experience (I was tempted to leave out the morale boosting bit and just leave it at experience ;-), had a good catch up with Nads and am spending the rest of the evening with The President (West Wing) so I fully expect the cheeriness to continue til bedtime!

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Big Bang Friday!

Friday 5th November (of course!) was Big Bang Friday!

I didn't go out to a firework display - I stayed at home and watched several from my bedroom window with the panoramic views over Harrogate (on a clear day I can see as far as the white horse at Sutton Bank!)!

I took a couple of photos but it was the fisrt time I'd used the firework settings on my camera so it took me a while to get used it (this is my way of saying I missed the really good ones!) and the zoom isn't as good as I'd like it to be so I didn't get many - anyway, here's a couple I did manage to get!



It was more of a Big Bang Saturday really - I went to the Stray firework display with Bernie and John. Having practised the night before I was at least able to get some better photos so here they are.

(Is it just me or does John bear a resemblence to either Shrek or Sloth from The Goonies in the first photo?)












I like this one - I was trying to get a photo of some of the many chinese lanterns in the sky, no idea what happened 'cos the image looks nothing like what I was seeing but I'm liking the UFO effect!



And I think this may be my favourite!



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Oh Dear, is it a Day Day?

Shingle bells, shingle bells..............

You thought I'd forgotten all about you didn't you?

I wouldn't do that to you! It's been a bizarre last few weeks, largely due to the adverse reaction I had to one of the tablets I've been on since being diagnosed with shingles (on my knee of all places!) a couple of weeks ago - I have a new appreciation for those experiencing mental ill health. Anyway, as of Wednesday I'm starting to feel like me again, you'll be thrilled I know, and am slowly starting to pick up all the plates I dropped in the last few weeks (figuratively speaking of course) including the diary and blog!

So, I missed Making Waves Wednesday, Feed the Ducks Day, Do Something I've Never Done Before Day, Big Breakfast Saturday, Magic Monday and Annally Tidy Day. Don't panic, I'll reschedule!

I have, however, had opportunity to do the DVD Marathon Day again (several times over!) as promised back in June!

I did the whole guilty pleasure dvd's - Slipper and the Rose, Brigadoon, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Carousel etc in addition to a whole host of other movies including State of Play, From Paris With Love, Casablanca (not sure whether this should sit in the guilty pleasures category?) and The Book of Eli. The majority of my waking hours though have been spent watching West Wing, again. As this is now the fourth viewing of the series I guess I should be at the stage where I can recite the script with them...........I'm sorry to say I haven't yet even reached the stage where I understand what's going on!

A huge thank you to everyone for the cards, visits, morale boosting calls from Boss at 'the ranch', flowers, chocolates, ghost stories, hugs, offers of shopping and good wishes (I mean actual good wishes, not offers of good wishes!). As part of her contribution to care in the community Bernie took me to the supermarket to pick up a few bits so extra thanks for that and also to Bernie and John for taking me to theirs to make sure I ate a proper meal (and yes Broadie I AM eating the fruit!)!

Ah, that reminds me I can talk now about the huge, momentous bigginess mentioned on Notice Small Things Day! Broadie is now Slimmy, sorry, I meant Mrs Slimmon (don't think I'll ever be able to stop calling her Broadie though - Webby'd know all about that!), here's a photos of the couple on this very happy ocassion (and one of my interesting headgear later (after much champagne and cocktails))!





Right, I reckon that's enough for now!

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Eat Loads of Chocolate Day

Yesterday (Monday 11th October) was Eat Loads of Chocolate Day!

I forgot!

With being off work it totally threw me and it was only when I'd hobbled to work that I realised it was a 'day'.

Thank the heavens for Cathryn though - she arrived at work with a gift of chocolates in acknowledgement of the day! The chocolates were absolutely lovely - each was shaped like a flower - and from a fabulous looking (judging by the accompanying leaflet) speciality chocolate shop.



And to accompany the lovely chocolates....................



...........the perfect greeting card for the day!

The chocolates did the rounds at work (sorry Boss - you need to plan your visits better!) and I even managed to save a few to take home, Bernie and John were forced to have one (well John didn't take much forcing to be honest ;-) and I ate the rest last night! Now I'm left with the chocolate I'd bought for the day in my cupboards, I generally don't really do chocolate but I'm sure I can force myself to have some at some point - surely it'd be rude not to?!

Thank you Cathryn!

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Flirt to the Maximum Day

Yesterday (Thursday 7 October) was Flirt to the Maximum Day!

I'm currently off work with knee and shoulder injuries and as it turned out the only opportunities I had for this were with my ex, my sister, her fiance and two worried looking cats!

In the interests of all of us I decided to give this one a miss for now!

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Magnificent Friday

Today is magnificent Friday!

The weather at 6:15 this morning was certainly magnificent, in a stormy, windy kind of way!

Then I found a little bag of my sterling silver jewellery I thought I'd lost some time ago - magnificent!

And there was this........................



And it's Friday!

Nuff said!

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Notice Small Things Day!

(Ahem, get your mind out of the gutter - you know who you are)

Ok so, today is Notice Small Things Day!

Yet.................it has been a day of momentous bigginess! Huge, warm, fuzzy great big...STUFF!

And that's all I can say on the matter for now - sorry! All will be revealed (again - gutter, out)!

I did try to notice small things but whenever I focused on something 'small' I got to thinking about it and it grew and grew in my mind taking on importance (totally unwarranted in some cases) and size until I came to the conclusion that EVERYTHING IS BIG - so, today's been kind of like an episode of Land of the Giants in an odd kind of way!

This is the only thing that even vaguely qualifies............



Eating my lunch I noticed this creatively cut cucumber in the little dish of tuna (small thing noticed) but then I got to thinking that someone had put a lot of effort into doing this and it probably made them smile while they were doing it and it made me smile finding it etc etc - see my problem?

And I've just spent 20 minutes essentially writing about a piece of cucumber (yeah, let's not even start on that problem).

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Captain's Log Supplemental

I love my sister! She made me a fabulous cake for my birthday, so, we were in the kitchen taking pictures (to follow) and everyone else was on the sofa whinging and asking what we were doing.

Me: Taking photo of cake
Rob: But it's dark
Me: It needs to be - you know nothing about photography
Rob: Women!
Bernie: You know nothing about them either

Classic!

Extremely Lovely Tuesday!

Yesterday (Tuesday 14th September) was Extremly Lovely Tuesday!

I started it with a trip to the dentist - mmm, lovely!

Then it was off to Toni & Guy's for the talented Dan to work his magic - half the length of my hair has gone and I have a fringe (oh, and it's also purple but I did that when I got home!)! Dan also introduced me to the work of Ok Go, this video is amazing! I defy you to watch it and not realise at some point that you have a stupid grin on your face like a big kid!



Webby's was the next stop on the tour (Webby refers to the day as 'visit a cripple day!), it's funny but given the limited contact we've had over the last 15 years (I wasn't ignoring you!) it really should be awkward when we see each other but it really isn't!

I spent the rest of the day/evening/night watching season 6 of Grey's Anatomy (I know, it's back, what can I do? My name is Heidi and I'm a Grey's addict.....seriously)!

I have to confess - I stayed up so at just gone midnight I could open all my birthday cards (I did limit myself to just one present though - I'm so proud of myself!) before going to bed!

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Wink at a Stranger Day

Monday 6th September was Wink at a Stranger Day!

Ok, there was plenty of opportunity to do this in the work 'restaurant' at lunchtime but, to be honest, I didn't want to risk winking (suggestively, comically, conspiratorially, or any other way) at a stranger I might actually come across again at some point during the day!

So, by the time I set off home (in gale force winds) I'd given up on the idea, convinced that I wouldn't bump into anyone on the way home (I rarely do, and those that I do I meet so regularly that they wouldn't really meet the 'stranger' criteria). Imagine my surprise (and horror) when the path widened at the little park area and I see a chap (not a regular) walking towards me. Do I, don't I? I can't decide! We're rapidly approaching each other as we dodge the various bits of flying trees and shrubbery so I decide to throw caution to the wind and go for it!

I wink........the wind howls........my hair goes in my eyes, in my mouth, up my nose.......I have no idea whether he's smiling at me because he saw the wink, because I'm choking on my own hair, or because he's just a nice chap who smiles at folk he passes!!!

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Another Wonderful Wednesday!

Today (8th September) is Another Wonderful Wednesday!

Ok, ok, I'm all out of sequence, the next postings will be about Happy Sunday (5th September) and Wink at a Stranger Day (6th September). I'm just far too busy doing nice-be-good-to-yourself-don't-be-too-hard-on-yourself things to finish the long write up about Sunday and the (very) brief write up about Monday - I'll get around to it, promise!

Anyway I wanted to test my link to Twitter today which is why today is being written about today!

I don't know what went wrong today but it's not been the Wonderful Wednesday I was hoping for - it got to the stage where the bunny ears had to come out (as seen modelled by Robocat) which is always a sure sign to all in the office that things are not fine and dandy at Planet Orange (I have no idea why wearing the bunny ears makes it all seem better but it does - maybe something to do with catching sight of myself in the mirror/glass and laughing?). Still, it's only tea time and I'm planning to order takeaway and watch telly (a very rare occurance for me) all night so it's sliding up the wonderful scale in leaps and bounds!

Oooh, oooh, oooh, and, something that makes me feel wonderful whenever I think about it - the lovely people at Really Good have sent me a copy of next year's diary! I'm going to be very busy next year!

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Happy Sunday

Sunday 6th September was Happy Sunday!

It's taken me so long to publish the post because it's taken so long to load all the photos!

It was a very Happy Sunday indeed! Pops (Daddy!)and Olive spent the weekend with me for my birthday (it's not my birthday for a couple of weeks (well it'll be closer by the time I publish the post!) but they're going on holiday so won't be here). I requested fish and chips for tea on Saturday (I'm easy to please!) and Pops made one of his renowned pavlovas (and now I wish I'd thought to take a photo of it!).

We toddled off to Roundhay Park on Sunday morning and took in the Monet garden




the Alhambra garden



































the Tropical World (lots of photos coming up - sorry!)












I also asked to visit the smaller lake in the park as this is a very special place for me and somewhere I haven't had the opporunity to revisit since it became a special place. It's the place I said goodbye to Michael, one of my best friends who died a couple of years ago (not at the lake!). The last time I was there it was night - very dark, January - very cold. There were fireworks, music (well, Ride of the Valkries on my mobile), flowers, tears, falling in the lake, ambulances, and laughter. It was strange to see it in the warm daylight but comforting to see what a really beautiful spot it is. When we were visiting the Chelsea Garden (in the speciality gardens at the patk) Pops and I were standing in front of the small central pond when, out of nowhere, a white feather drifted down in front of us, the sun was reflecting off it so it glowed pure white. It's a common school of thought that white feathers are a sign of angels - I've kept the feather!

We went to York Gate Garden next,I took loads of photos but you're not allowed to put them on the internet!!

And if you're not feeling the happy yet here's a little something to help you along.....................



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Learn a New Fact Day

Today is Learn a New Fact Day!

Thank you Catherine for the first fact of the day - London is the capital of England (not a new one, but with my memory it's entirely plausible that I could have forgotten!)!

I sent Neil a few facts about cats (he hates cats).............

Abraham Lincoln was a cat lover. He had 4 cats whilst living at the White House. His cat, Tabby, was the first White House cat.

Misty Malarky Ying Yang was a siamese cat that belonged to President Carter's daughter, Amy. He was First Cat from 1977 to 1981.

Beerbohm, a tabby, was London's longest-serving theater mouser. Berrbohm served at the Globe Theater from the mid-70's to 1995.

The record for the most kittens in a lifetime is held by Dusty. She gave birth to 420 kittens.

Felix the Cat was the first animated character to be the subject of a marketing campaign.

The staff of the Savoy Hotel in London place a wooden cat named Kasper at tables to avoid seating unlucky parties of 13.

President Calvin Coolidge was so fond of his cat, Tiger, he used to walk around the White House with the cat draped around his neck. When Tiger got lost, Coolidge went on the radio to ask for help finding him.

Timmy, another of President Coolidge's cats, would allow the President's canary to sleep between his paws.

.............he responded with 25 facts about carrots (I have nothing against carrots).
There's also;
25 facts about 25 Celery
20 Facts About Parsley
16 Facts About Eggplant
15 Facts About Brussels Sprouts

Boss (bless him) contibuted with a bird related fact.

Boss: What's the most common owl in the UK
Me: I'm not that up on owls, Barn Owl?
Boss: No
Me: Snowy owl?
Boss: No
Me: I give up
Boss: Teet
Me: Never even heard of it!
Boss: (Groan) Say it
Me: Teet (carefully - I value my job)
Boss: And?
Me: And what?
Boss: Teet
Me: Teet
Boss: And
Me: And
Boss: No, say it!
Me: Teet and
(Seriously - this went on for some time)
Boss: Nooo, what we were talking about earlier
Me: Owl
Boss: Now say it together fast
Me: Teet Owl (aahhhh - illumination and much laughter)
Boss: I'm going now, bye

Linda provided more cat facts - Russian Blue ones!

Russian Blues are a natural breed originating in the Archangel Isles in northern Russia.
Russian Blues have striking green eyes and an expression that makes it look as if they are always smiling.
Russian Blues have been described as sensitive to their families and will try to lighten up the mood of the house by entertaining those around if necessary
Russian Blues are prone to obesity so it is important to monitor their diet.

And finally - the word of the day!

bilocation \bahy-loh-KEY-shuhn\, noun:
The state of being or the ability to be in two places at the same time.

I do this a lot - my body is often in one place whilst my mind is elsewhere!

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