Jake 13.6.04 - 29.12.07

merry christmas!!
Sorry all gone pear-shaped again. Here's to a happier 2008!

my favourite list

With 14 days until my birthday I know you're wondering what to buy me, aren't you hubby dear!

Here you go:

A ceramic slicing knife
A new set of secateurs these are quite nice
A spherical pudding mould
A pair of earrings
A new handbag, black, red or both!!
A balloon ride
A soft white/cream scarf
An ipod shuffle holder
An orange nail varnish for my tootsies
Cookbooks are always welcome
As are movies
And sanctuary spa covent garden smellies

Spuda Fett

found a bug in my blog!

budding diy-er

Am going to enter a bonny baby competition at work for Pudsey so was looking through some old photies of moi and came across this one trying to help my dad and uncle mend a deck chair!!



If I remember correct it is part of a set, I'll have to look the rest out when I go home this weekend.

I'm back...

...with a new look (work in progress) and a new attitude!

For readers who don't know life has been very topsy turvey for me for the last 6 weeks or so.

A quick potted history lesson, inside of 2 weeks I had a wedding, a birth and a death. Oh crap!!

Two friends finally got married, one of my best friends Clare gave birth to a beautiful baby boy Matthew, and on the same day my mum died, but as Dad said one out, one in all is well!!!!

Mum dying was a big shock, she had been ill but you expect people to end up in hospital first, how wrong she proved us - good for her she would have hated it!

Anyway enough maudlin' life is to be lived and I intend to live mine now!

fairy cakes

The photos on this website will make your mouth-water. I'm glad fairy/cup cakes are getting popular here as I love them!!!

They also have a fabby blog.

there is a god!!

my favourite store is back on the web - hooray!!

todays word

re·cid·i·vism [ri-sid-uh-viz-uhm]
n.

1. repeated or habitual relapse, as into crime.
2. Psychiatry. the chronic tendency toward repetition of criminal or antisocial behavior patterns.

my word of the day

mon·o·gen·e·sis (mn-jn-ss)
n.
1. The theory that all living organisms are descended from a single cell or organism.
2. Asexual reproduction, as by sporulation.

Googles word of the day

cupidity (noun) Excessive desire, especially for wealth.

Synonyms: covetousness, avarice
Usage: Their very cupidity was to prove the means of their undoing, in the matter of the ransom at least.

fun times

The girls at Alton Towers.

What flower are you?

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?

This is me

"Mischief is your middle name, but your first is friend. You are quite the prankster that loves to make other people laugh."

From This Garden Is Illegal.

still happy

and it's wednesday now...
a couple more photo's from the weekend.

happy happy happy

And it's a Monday!!
But I had an absolutely fantastic weekend, we went to the SBK Championship at Brands Hatch. Men in leathers on big motorbikes what more could a girl ask for, I know a double win for James Toseland and I got that too!!! The boy did good on his last British race in this group as he moves to MotoGP next year - oh my god I can't wait for that all my favourite sportsmen in the same race.
Anyway before I dribble too much on my keyboard here's some photos, the credit on these goes to Mr Yukki!!! I was too busy shouting, screaming, and blowing my horn....




























More photos to follow!!!
Oh the biker in the photos is James Toseland.

on a roll now

Jake
Originally uploaded by princessyukki

flickr toys are ace, more to follow

mosaic

Photos have been a bit lacking recently, sorry.

quote of the day!!

Nonsense written on a product review test page...

"I managed to keep my pet goldfish alive and happy for ten years in one of the Gusseted ones. When he eventually died I was able to freeze the remains and make and interesting table centre piece."

popcorn & ice cream

Went to the movies the other night to watch Die Hard 4.0.

If like me you love no brainer action movies this is definitely for you. Bruce at his best and no vest in sight!

Black Tinkerbell you were definitely right about the Ben & Jerry's Bohemian Raspberry ice cream being the best ever, I'm normally a Haagen Daz Cookies & Cream person but this has completely changed now - Asda here I come!!!

walk-o-meter

Short walk yesterday lunch of 1.5 miles as it was drizzling a bit, I wish the weather would make it's mind up whether it's summer or autumn!!! But I was very good and walked to and from the cinema last night so that adds another 3 miles onto todays total.

Total so far 15.6 miles.

movies

Can cross another movie off the must-see list for the summer. Saw Oceans 13 last night, better than the second but not as good as the first and last week saw Pirates of the Caribbean absolutely excellent, I loved it.

The complete list of what to watch as of today - I'm sure it's gonna grow some:
Zodiac - I know it's been out a while but it's only just coming to our cinema!!!

Fantastic 4
Shrek 3
Die Hard 4.0
The Simpsons
Hairspray
Transformers
Harry Potter
Surf's Up
The Bourne Ultimatum
Ratatouille _ I know this isn't out until October
Lucky You

bangs and flashes

Had a fantastic storm last night unfortunately though it didn't kick off until nearly midnight and was still going on when I finally gave up watching it at about 1am. So I'm knackered today but it was worth it especially when it was right above us.
Hopefully today will now be a bit cooler for my walk at lunch cos it was too hot yesterday but I still did 2.8 miles.

Total so far 11.1 miles.

walk-o-meter

Didn't get chance to put this up yesterday, under cloudy skies but very humid walked another 1.5 miles. Didn't go to the lake today but I did get to see a nice display of low flying by the RAF, they look so majestic and amazing!!

Total so far 8.3 miles.

Also cycled 6.75 miles at the gym.

Total now 13.25 miles.

walk-o-meter

Glorious sunshine and clear blue skies for todays walk, which was 2.5 miles. Took a different route today and ended up looking out over Lake Windermere, could quite have easily have stayed there!!!

Total so far 6.8miles.

Also cycled 6.5 miles at the gym last night.

me

I think Kirsten did something similar to this a while ago but it came through to me via email today so thought I would share my answers


Four jobs I have had in my life:

1. skate hire assistant

2. waitress

3. baker

4. presenter



Four films I can watch over

1. The Blues Brothers

2. Pirates of The Caribbean (All of em! Arrrrrrrrrr)

3. Finding Nemo or Cars - tough choice

4. kiss kiss bang bang



Four places I have lived

1. Skegby

2. Switzerland

3. Bowness

4. Kendal



Four TV shows I love to watch

1. Bones

2. CSI Las Vegas

3. scooby doo

4. powerpuff girls



Four places I've been on vacation

1. Florida

2. Barcelona

3. Las Vegas

4. Chapel St Leonards



Four Web sites I visit daily

1. my blog

2. www.lakeland.co.uk

3. hotmail

4. http://www.cookeryclub.co.uk/



Four of my favourite foods

1. fish (the scallop and chorizo starter at The Angel pub in Bowness especially)

2. fillet steak (either New Moon or Wild Boar - not fussed which)

3. BBQ (everything tastes better cooked on a BBQ)

4. marshmallows



Four Places I'd rather be right now

1. At home sunbathing!

2. On the Kraken at Sea World Orlando

3. Swimming in a warm sea

4. In a beer garden

walk-o-meter

Started walking in earnest in my lunch hour.
Yesterday I walked 2.8 miles and today I walked 1.5 miles.

Total so far 4.3 miles.

group of worms

Did you know this is called a knot? I didn't until today but on searching on google it can also be called a wriggle or a clew!!! It all came about as I have a plate of tomato slices on my desk to feed my worms in my wormery and someone asked why.

photos

Sorry not been any photos recently but I managed to lose my adapter thing for my memory card, a new one has been ordered from good old ebay and as soon as it arrives the backlog of photos will be uploaded to here and flickr, so watch this space.

pinball heaven

The TZ is now fully working and it's ace. It was worth the wait the sound is fantastic!!

innocent karate

Got my innocent news email earlier and on it was a link to a karate chop on YouTube but this one is so much better.
I know you shouldn't laugh but you just can't help it!!!

pretty pictures

Having a quick look round some websites and came across www.lime.com and on here is a cool place with lots of pretty pictures. I can't decide which group is my favourite but the forest set have been scrolling around for sometime now!!

awesome picture

This picture was sent to me on an email and I just felt I had to share its beauty with you all. I don't know where it originates from so can't acknowledge you, sorry.

TZ

Here is the first picture of TZ, it will hopefully be fully working again by the end of the month.

This is where it came from.

cat hut

As you can see it is quite palatial in proportions. We got it from here.

moomins

Had to share with you this picture of these moomin glasses that can be found on this website along with lots of other funky moomin stuff (if you search for moomin)!!!

up and down weekend!!

Down - We got the results back from the tests on the lump removed from Jake last week and unfortunately it wasn't good news, the poor little mite has lymphoma cancer; a very aggressive and nasty piece of work with basically no cure, however he doesn't have feline leukemia which is often linked to this type of cancer.
As a new lump had started to grow within only days of the first being removed we have decided not to have this or any further ones that appear removed, as new ones will only grow and replace them. To see him run around the house like a mad man (he has finally learnt to power slide on the wood floors!) you would think there was nothing wrong with him, and hopefully he will stay this way for quite a while. We are going to make whatever precious time we have left with Jake count. He is going to be spoilt more than he already is
Sorry to depress you but I needed to write this down...

On the up side - our Twilight Zone pinball was delivered and installed, the only thing is the sound has stopped working but that's what you get for buying a machine that's 15 years old and has been used and abused. The company we bought it off though are coming back to spend a day trying to sort it out.

The other thing that arrived was Jake and Spindles cat run (bad timing or what, but we felt as the poor bloke had built it specially for us and was driving all the way from Chesterfield to Lancaster we couldn't cancel it), it does look really good though and fits the space perfectly.
It has a completely covered bit for them to have their food, litter tray and bed in with a small opening for them to climb through to the open bit but this still has a proper roof over it to protect them from the rain not that I would put them out if it was - I said they were spoilt. Jake and Spindle were not impressed at first being turfed off their nice comfy chair and put in the hut as it has been christened. We've put some big lumps of driftwood in the open bit for them to climb all over but it didn't take Jake long to realise that he could climb up the wire mesh instead and let go, but not until his sister was below him so he had a soft landing!!!

Pictures of the TZ and hut will be on show soon!

changes

Felt like a change today, needs a bit of messing around with to get it just right though.

Jake did well after his operation, he was so cute on friday night just how a p***ed cat would look like I imagine. He must have been given some really powerful drugs as he found the cupboard doors in the kitchen very interesting when he wasn't sat staring at the floor!! Bless... (A picture will be posted soon when Minnie (the Mac) decides to behave and not keep shutting down on us, I don't think she likes Lancaster!)

The vets were very wrong however as they promised me it would be about a week before he was running round thinking our house is part of a grand prix race track, the peace and calm lasted until Sunday lunch - do you think I can get a refund?

quiet times

Not posted for a few days as nothing much has really happened in the land of princess yukki until today!

Jake has to go to the vets this morning for an operation to remove a lump from his "armpit", not sure how we're going to keep him quiet and calm after the op, blacktinkerbell did suggest a straight jacket - does anyone know where I can get one!!!

Very exciting news is that our Twilight Zone pinball machine has been restored ahead of schedule and will be delivered next week, I'd better get the dining area cleared of books then.

Over the last couple of weeks I have planted loads of veg seeds for my ickle veg patch that I am going to have in my new garden, this weekend will see me planting up some peas, tomatoes, asparagus peas, celery and some 'erbs. I'll post pictures of their progress.

On the subject of pictures, we've finally got the computer set up at home so I can start to post some of the pics I've taken recently as I did promise to post a pic a day quite a while ago now.

That's all I can think of for now that's worth talking to you about, I promise to be back sooner rather than later.

help...

I'm doing a quiz for our local save the children shop, and I'm stuck on 7 questions (I've done the other 43!). All the answers contain either gold or golden and the numbers at the side indicate the number of letters.

sounds like a flag 4.8
archangel pouted providing gentle letdown 6.9
molten pledge produces this building 6.6
confused angel lopped this fruit 6.5
gilded ruler 4.9
mr gummidge's head perhaps 7-6
grandma's stye treatment 6.3.8

Thanx.

we've moved!!!

Normal sporadic blogging will now return as it all finally happened and we moved to our new home. I totally love it!!!

I took 2 weeks off work and we moved ourselves with the help of family, friends, 2 transit vans and a big storage unit. I can't believe how much crap we still have after so many trips to the tip and charity shops and we're adding to it every day.

I have a new claim to fame though, I made 4 trips to Ikea (Warrington and the new Manchester one at Ashton-under-Lyne) in 1 week bearing in mind it is about 120 mile round trip that's not bad going! And I've since added a trip to Leeds too. I'll post some piccies of the new place as soon as I've got rid of some more boxes as at the mo it looks a bit like a warehouse, though if you sit on the sofa and look towards the tv you can imagine that it is all sorted.

packing boxes and bubble wrap

Hooray we have finally got a date for moving - 4th April. The reality of it all is now dawning and the mass panic is setting in, there are only 2 weekends 'til we move!!!

the big five O

This is my 50th blog...

pinball

The decision has been made, we are getting a Twilight Zone!! It is being refurbished as we speak and it should arrive mid-June.

heroes

Sci Fi channel Monday nights at 10pm - you won't be disappointed!!!



Watched 3 episodes in a row last night, awesome even better than LOST!!!

resolutions

Yes I know it's March and most people did theirs on January 1st. But this year I thought I would do it differently and decided to set myself one a month.
So January was a simple one, to take my make-up off before I go to bed every night, and I actually managed it apart from one night I think it was.
February was to try and go to the gym at least twice a week and to keep up my lunchtime walks, which I did apart from the last week and a half as I had a bad cold again.
March is to look after my nails more and to create a mosaic once a week for my blog from photos that I have taken.
April, this I will need to think about nearer the time.

long time no blog!

I'm getting really bad at this blogging thing must try harder.

I think going to visit my sister is bad for my health, we went a couple of weeks ago and the whole farm thing happened, this time I managed to trap a nerve in my neck and this made it so that I could not move my head in any direction for a couple of days. I'm just starting to feel human now... no wise cracks Kirsten, Jo or Rob!

I've only got a couple of days or I fail my first project of my blogs - I did take some piccies these past few days and hopefully they will be good enough to make a mosaic with but I can't promise!!

In the meantime here's a funny that was sent to me today!

I've set my self a task for the month of March - I am going to try and include a mosaic a week of photos taken that week (weather permitting, of course, or you could get lots of images of Jake and Spindle!!), these are a few from Sunday!

dog food

nearly forgot to share with you all my bite, you can't see but there was a swelling about the size of a golf ball and it was incredibly painful when I caught it. I was disappointed that the bruising was so deep that I never got to see it black and blue it just went a horrible greeny yellow!

shoes

I know I promised this picture a while ago but I've finally got round to taking it.

These are the animal print shoes I wore to our Christmas party



















And these are my Dorothy shoes, a recent purchase from good old ebay




















follow the yellow brick road...

it can't be monday again

Oh but it is!
Thankfully my weekend was much less of an adventure as last week, in fact it would turn most people comatose!
Friday night we again had spaghetti bolognaise for tea, I made too much on Wednesday night, then fell asleep watching Garden State with Zach Braff of Scrubs fame, what I can remember I enjoyed.
Saturday was spent cleaning the house, but it feels really weird as though I'm cleaning someone else's house as we're moving. Also did 2 weeks worth of washing and ironing in one day must be record! We watched the remake of the FOG not as good as the original it's no where near as scary and I was only knee high to a grass hopper and I know I'm not much bigger now before anyone pipes up with a comment!!!
Sunday morning was shopping as the cupboards and fridge were very bare... then in the afternoon we went for a drive and to look at fishtanks for the move to the new house.
Did watch Top Gear in the evening - they are the best, and caught up on some Ugly Betty - I want a butterfly outfit!!
That's it for now you can all wake up until next time.

xxx

food to rival angeldumpling

angeldumpling has regaled us with her food intake over a weekend, I think I can beat that

Friday - fish and chips







Saturday - an Indian







Sunday dinner - jacket potato with chilli







Sunday tea - a Sunday Roast at a very nice restaurant







Monday - Chinese







Tuesday - an Indian







I promise to be better behaved this weekend, I need to as my bank balance can't cope with it any more!!!

choices, choices

Hubby and I have always had a longing for a pinball machine but until the new house (fingers very crossed) have never had the room for one. We now have the big decision of which one to choose, at the mo it is between The Shadow and Indiana Jones - only because they are available on ebay for not too stupid prices.

Something else I have always wanted is a proper old fashioned space invaders arcade machine, or a bomb jack one will do.

this week in the news

Well what a week it's been since I last blogged.

First a house update with good and bad news, good news - the survey was done on our house and everything was hunky dory so the very nice lady buying it is going forward with the purchase hooray and now for the bad news - the survey on the house we are buying took place last Wednesday and when we got back from our weekend on the farm (more about that later) the results had arrived - speedy! We opened the envelope with some trepidation, and right we were too, the main bedroom appears to have damp in the wall that is the old chimney breast so we have to get a specialist damp person to check it out, more expense boo hoo and we need to get the roof checked over as the nails holding the slates in place are starting to rust and apparently if it gets too bad the whole roof could slide off, not a good idea.

Secondly gym news, got a new workout programme last week, oh my god! I have managed to go all the way through twice...

Thirdly my weekend on the farm.
We decided to go to stay with my sister for the weekend however she was farm sitting for a friend. But she said to still come down as I could meet the pigs, they are very cute, I was going to take some pics but with everything that happened I completely forgot.
Anyway on the Friday night when we arrived she told me that the 2 young pups had attacked one of the old dogs at the beginning of the week and he was now staying at her house, this should have started the warning bells ringing.
When we got up on the Saturday I was roped in to helping feed the pigs and chickens and collecting any eggs laid by the chickens. Whilst down at the pigs there was a right commotion coming from the chicken run, both my sister and I looked up at the same time to see one of the young pups trying to murder 2 of the chickens, there was feathers everywhere. The damn dog had managed to get the back off the chicken hut!! Both chickens were finally caught and put back in the hut minus many feathers and the dog got a swift kick up the backside!!! Later that same day, the same dog that had the chicken decided to try and eat the leg of one of the other dogs, and 2 other dogs peeing all over the conservatory. After going out for dinner the old german shepherd decided I smelt so tasty that he would have a chomp on my arm, luckily for me I had on a jumper and thick coat so still have said arm - I will put a pic up later.
And finally on Sunday morning the biggest disaster of them all, when my sis got up she spotted that some of the horses weren't where they were supposed to be. And when it came to breakfast time, one of the young horse's was showing off and managed to put her 2 front legs through a metal 5 bar gate, panicking she lifted the gate completely off the hinges and then ended up with all 4 legs through the gate and trying to run around the field!! During this she slipped in the mud with the gate still attached to 2 of her legs. Then in trying to assess the situation the poor thing kicked the gate off which nearly hit me and sister, she then charged us both, at this point we are flat on our faces in the mud trying desperately to to get out of the way! Fortunately we were both ok but the poor horse ended up in horse hospital with 3 very cut up legs but thankfully no broken bones. And finally the dog my sister was looking after decided to pee all over the house, to try and get the 2 pet rabbits, he did succeed in starting pull wire from the hutch, then have a go at Monty one of the cats but he just smacked him in the face which completely baffled the daft dog and he do nothing but bark which then started to upset Harry my sister's old black lab, so he's going back to the farm to fend for himself.

We came home on Sunday night hardly believing everything that had happened, it seemed like a bad movie plot.

flora

walkies!!

I made a very exciting discovery last night - I will have walked over 30 miles in my lunch breaks by the end of today!!!

For the past 3 weeks I have been going for a short walk in my lunch break and after plotting my route on gmap pedometer I could determine how far I walked, last night I decided to tot all the totals up and it came to just under 30 miles but with the planned walk this lunch I will be over the 30 mile point, good job really seeing as I had a fried egg muffin today for breakfast!!!

snow!

For everyone out there that doesn't have any snow including us up here in the Lake District I found this whilst milling about the tinterweb earlier...

























Thank you to http://www.kerismith.com/blog/

hello kitty

found a new toy...

1. bluefairywandkitty, 2. forestkitty, 3. pinkfairykitty, 4. sailorkitty, 5. denimkitty, 6. anniversarykitty, 7. bluefgairykitty, 8. hawaiiankitty, 9. snowhello kitty

Using Mosaic Maker.

spring has arrived

Although the weather thinks it's winter now!!!
On the drive into work this morning under a clear blue sky with the fields and hills white with a covering of frost from Jack, one of the fields had newborn lambs in, that made me go aaaaawwwww how cute. I do feel sorry for them though as it was bloody freezing!

house news

a quick update - the first survey was completed on Monday and the one on our house is booked for next Monday, nail biting times!!!

sprocket RIP

As promised...

friday feeling...

Friday has to be my favourite day of the week. Not only is it the last day before the weekend and 2 days of no work but also it has become a bit of a ritual to have breakfast muffins.

housey news

Things are moving along, the first of the surveys have taken place at last. Hopefully the one on our house will be next week and then we can get the one on the house we are buying done - hurrah. Thank goodness we only have a small chain I think I would be going mad by now, I can be a tad impatient!!!!

I did it!!

I may not have stuck to the healthy eating as much as I should have - I was ill after all - but I did manage to go for a walk each day last week in my lunch breaks and got to fit into my red dress for the Christmas party (I know it's a bit late but that's the way we do it at ********) and if I say so myself I looked pretty damn good. The shoes did make the outfit though and I made the mistake of letting Forbez try them on and then had to wrestle them back off her. I'll put a piccy up for you all to see how luverly they are!!!!

Sprocket

This is Sprocket when he was a baby...

windy pops

Welcome to sunny Blackpkpool!!

plankton rule!!!

Check out this site it's brilliant, look out for the plankton, seagull and sea lion!

bah humbug

I've got a stinking cold again thanks to my sister, she bought it all the way from Mansfield as a pressie for me.
So feeling very crap and very narked off as my plan of losing half a stone before the end of the month so I can get in to my new red dress for the christmas party it now not going to happen!!!

Dakar!!!

I am so happy I'm like a little piggy in muck, why, because one of my favourite sporting events started at the weekend. The Dakar Rally, this is the toughest rally in the world and the boys and girls that take part are heros!! Last year out of 475 vehicles starting the rally, 194 finished that is how tough it is.

I only wish it was covered more on the TV as the 30 mins on Eurosport does not do it or the racers justice!!!

For more info see http://www.dakar.com/2007/DAK/LIVE/us/500/index.html

yuk!!!

Watched a programme over Christmas about toys given as presents and the best and worst of them, one of my favourites that brought back lots of warm happy memories were these little critters
















Some were completely gross but I loved them!!

exciting times

If you've bothered to read my 2nd ever post you will remember that I said we had decided to put our house up for sale, well the fabby news is that it sold. And between Christmas and new year at that!!!! So we're now going through the boring bit of filling in loads of paper work and complaining how much the solicitors and estate agents are scamming us for the privilege of doing very little.

My new house is in Lancaster and it is very nice and posh – I know me and posh are not two words that would normally be associated with each other.

Will put proper piccies up when in but here's one of the front for now.

the old ones are the best...