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Things have been getting quite bogged down here with the house all upside down while we decorate and no viewers or even the hint of a viewer so when no 2 daughter's birthday approached we decided to put our heart and soul into having a fun time.


We asked her what she would like to do and she said Build-a-Bear-Workshop.  She is 24 years old this birthday but that didn't matter at all.  We decided to build our bear for our grand daughter and after much wrangling we opted for a monkey.  First we chose the skin.


....then we had the monkey stuffed.



This is the foot pedal that works the stuffing machine.


Wow... look at no. 2 daughter's shoes.  How does she walk in them we were asked?  It's physics apparently and no different from a normal pair of shoes.


We chose a heart to go inside the monkey and a monkey sound that was put into it's paw... you squeeze it and it makes a noise.





Next we had to dress it.  That was hard.  Too much to choose from.



Finally we opted for a Darth…

Taking a break from the never-ending magnolia blandness of my world at the moment, I lay down exhausted on the couch and started flicking through the tv channels - nothing.  So I switched to BBC iplayer.  There are a number of programmes that I have to watch on iplayer because my taste is not that of the rest of the family.

Up it popped
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01jv1yr/Nina_Conti_A_Ventriloquists_Story_Her_Masters_Voice/

Nina Conti - she's funny I thought, I will enjoy that.  so I watched A Ventriloquists Story.  Which turned out to be the most emotional and disturbing thing I have seen for a very long time.  I can't stop thinking about it and I have to watch it again because I can't decide whether she was acting or not - watch it and you will see what I mean.  It's billed as a documentary.  And it seems like a documentary.  Nina is taking her late mentor (and lover) Ken Campbell's ventriloquist puppets to Vent Haven ( a refuge for bereaved puppets).

I …

1.  It's not as easy as it looks.

2.  The room gets bigger as you paint.

3.  Gravity is a force to reckon with.

4.  The first stroke of the brush or roller puts the paint on... the second can take it off... what is it with that?

5.  It looks awful until it has dried (which makes you feel like you are doing a really bad job and the subsequent bad attitude means the next wall looks even worse!)

6.  Painting ceilings can make you feel really unwell. (looking up all the time is bad for you)

7.  Walls are bumpy not smooth (who'd have thought eh??)

8.  Painting and cooking at the same time is not advisable.

9.  A mug full of hot tea is not a suitable receptacle for a fully loaded paint brush.

10.  Paint is attracted to floors, tables, soft furnishings and other places where it's not supposed to be.

11.  Paint can magically appear UNDERNEATH the carefully placed dust sheet.

12.  Ladders are scary.

13.  "Oh" is not an appropriate response from hubby when he gets home fro…

Feeling dizzy from painting the ceiling I am taking this opportunity to update the blog.


We continue with the home improvements plan in the hope that short-sighted potential buyers will be more keen when shown a bland and very blank canvas.


OK I need to explain that mauve was very 'in' in 1996.


But one thing is for sure... I am never going to paint strong colours on walls again.  Our whole house was a bit of an experiment in colour back in 96.  Both hubby and I had lived for most of our lives in military quarters where we were not allowed to change the colour of the walls and they were always magnolia. At the time we longed for colour to enrich our lives but suddenly when faced with our own home for the first time we felt an overwhelming panic and actually were very tempted to just go back to the familiar.


Not wanting to admit to being cowards, or colourfully challanged in any way, we were determined not to give in to the Magnolia.  Choosing a colour did not come easily to us…

First invite to my daughter's home for a picnic lunch and Jubilee tea.


I am not especially Royal.  If truth be told I would rather prefer to live in a Republic - but I do like to mark time by 'occasions'.  I like to make memories and our Jubilee tea was certainly that.


This is a cup and saucer made from fabric and used to hold the sugar lumps.  The sugar tongs were inherited from an elderly aunt and are silver but I have seen similar ones in charity shops for not very much at all -  I don't think they are in fashion these days.

The table cloth was a Naval Ensign and the miss match of tea cups and tiny Japanese tea plates was delightfully bright and colourful.


The food was very yummy and the conversation strayed to our own first homes many years ago. My daughter lives in a shared house.  She has a large bedroom of her own and shares all other facilities with three other people.  Chocolate cake, cream and strawberries... yum.


My daughter's house is actually very nice…