My Life's Ingredients

Now, we thought it would be nice to have a trip down to Whitley Bay with my Mutsch and Gabi, just because both love beaches and haven't been to (North) England yet. As we left it a little late to leave we decided to go to Bamburgh instead, along the Northumberland Costal Route. Had a FABULOUS time at the beach, those dunes at Bamburgh beach are fantastic! :) Didn't play hide-and-seek though. Mutsch and I took of our shoes and went into the water for a bit. Was cool, but not too bad, and I just LOVE the feeling of my feet on sand and in water. There were a couple of people actually SWIMMING... not sure if I would have done it if I had my swimming cozy with me. After the beach time we went to Seahouses for lunch, a nice fish and chips at the Neptune. The town is naff, totally touristy kitsch, but ok for food. :) We left Seahouses at 3pm and took the scenic route back - including the East Lothian Coastal Route. Never been through those places (Dunbar, Gullane, Aberlady, North ...

Woke up with humming noise in left ear and a little deaf ... worse than yesterday evening, and to top it up I started to get some earache. So not 100% with it, but still getting things ready for our last away game at Lancashire Wolverines. Packed my bag, got some drink and food sorted as well and while still tired managed to get ready in time to leave for the bus. On the bus trying to sort out paperwork for players, trying to read and having the constant humming in my ear ... FAB (@#@#@). Not really into doing any singing today but rather do that than dressing up as "Baby's Day out". Not too happy when Debs confirms she found something to dress up with after she said she'd not do it. Arrived at Lancashire, quite nice place, nice clubhouse ... tape ankle and carry stuff to the field ... just to realise that I forgot to take that bloody camera battery out of the charger and put it into the camera!!!!! Running around at Wolverines' sideline to find someone with a...

Well... that's what it becomes here in Scotland: One shot at a BBQ. And if it's blimming windy, then so be it!! :) Doug and I went to get the van and then the kit from JKC while my Mutsch and her friend Gabi went into the city to do some sightseeing. On the way back from JKC we did our usual tour around Aldi and Lidl and got some nice BBQ stuff (Aldi had chicken and prawn skewers in the freezer ... a summer special) ... and as usual we didn't arrive home until 3:30pm which caused a little (???) irritation with the man of the house. While he was trying to get the BBQ going (and moving it about 4 times until he placed it where I was about to tell him to put it after the 2nd move) I was working on my 4 salads, just to have a little variety. We had a tomato & onion salad, my special pasta salad, a green salad with artichoke hearts and halloumi cheese and a cucumber salad. Went out to get some garlic bread and was about to put that in the oven when our visitors arrived ...

Finally!! Only took them 3 attempts and a couple of angry calls from us... :o The installation team arrived this morning at 9:15am and the whole thing was installed at 9:55am. Very quick! Had a bit of a worry when I searched our viewing card (one of the guys told me that we need to phone Sky and put in the viewing card) ... and couldn't find it!! We always had it in our old box so was totally annoyed when I couldn't find it!! After phoning Sky and them talking me through it ... it appeared that the card was already in the new box! The empty slot I could see from the outside was for the entertainment card (whatever that is!). To my defense ... the opening thingy was at a different space than to the box shown in the instructions. Feeling totally stupid now!!! :o Have also been searching for the club's cheque book and still cannot find it... :( CRAPPY!!! Ah well, off to pay the dentist and then go ahead with clearing the scrap table.

Isn't that just typical? I remembered two books I read as a child (because of Maren's Journalling Challenge - I hope I can do both this month!). Can I remember the title? NO. Can I remember the author or publisher? No, of course not!!!! :( One of the books is a detective story/novel taking place on one of the Greek Islands. I've asked my Mutsch to check my old books but I have the funny feeling that I have probably given the book away when we moved house when I was 12 years old. Googling "Greek Islands" and "fiction" brings up 113+ PAGES of results (half of which are probably non fiction anyway!). The other book is set in Germany - 2 kids (orphans) are travelling through the country to find their aunt in/near Berlin. I am sure it was after a nuclear war or something like that. We read the book in Secondary school, probably when I was about 12-13 years old. .... TADA!!! Found the book!!! It's called "Die letzten Kinder von Schewenborn" ( ...

And yet again a TV program prompting me to write a Blog entry! This time it's "The Hairy Bikers' Cookbook" (yes, I know ... I LOVE watching cooking programs!! ;) ). They've been in Rumania for 2 weeks now and today they have been cooking "blinis". Small pancakes with buckwheat and breadflour. My connection to Blinis are one part of my family - my Mutsch's side is from East Germany (living in Grossraeschen and Senftenberg, both north of Dresden and very close to the Polish border). When I was a child I've been over visiting both sides of my family (East Germany and Austria) quite a lot. I have relatives in both areas, but there are no living relatives from my granddad's side (my dad's dad) - the only one actually from West Germany. I cannot remember meeting any relative from his side really and I have to admit I haven't a clue whether there are any aunts/uncles/nephews/nieces at all. Think that's something I have to discuss with m...

We decided to get Sky+ 2 weeks ago - really looking forward to it and all that. Had an installation guy turning up last Monday just to tell us that we'd need the special heights team etc. and that he couldn't do it. REALLY???? Never would have guessed that! It's not as if we didn't TELL the installation team that we are living in a town house of 3 stories!!!! Well, so we were given another installation date ... today. Got a phone call stating that the installation team would arrive between 2 and 5 which gave me enough time to get some of the cleaning done. Made inroads on cleaning the bedroom and had the living room in an ok-ish state (yet another Wolves wash there ... LOL). Was quite surprised how much I actually got done ... no "me time" though, and I still haven't done any scrapping. :( When the guys didn't arrive by 5pm I called Sky only to be told that the installations were delayed due to the intermittent rain, but that the installation team ...

Quite funny, since we booked the cruise I am reminiscing about my holidays as a child, the differences since growing up and all that. :) And I think watching Rick Stein's Mediterranean Escapes just tickled the memories even more out. Since I can remember my family went camping... in tents. Austria, Spain, Hungary (at the Balaton) and the most vivid memories I have of camping in Funtana, south of Porec,then Yugoslavia (now Croatia). We must have been there a couple of years at the same camping ground. It was a FAB time (even my incident with jellyfish!), very good food and camping was just FUN!!! Amazing how you change when you get older. I believe it was when I was 12 when I started to stay in hotels ... with my sister and her boyfriend that time in Cala Ratjada, Mallorca. And I don't think I went back to camping abroad since then. Since I met Doug holidays were always in the US/Canada and the obligatory week in Germany. But now I am feeling like going back to camping or at...

woke up with a throbbing headache (again) and it didn't go away during the day. Managed to go to acupuncture, went to the gyle afterwards and since I am back home I am not feeling great, as somehow my tummy decided to play up as well. Can't think of anything causing this! :( So ... not done much today apart from dinner & acupuncture. :o Hope I am feeling better tomorrow. :o

Day 1 of three nearly over with. Didn't get all of it done, but had to do other stuff as well... never works out as planned, does it?? TADAAAs: White Wash I White Wash II White Wash III White Wash IV (lots of towels, had to split Wash III) Register new Junior Players (paper & e-mail) Pack Senior Jerseys & Pants Cook dinner Make food list for rest of month Make shopping list Plastic bottles to recycling bank plant Coriander in herbs plant pot Food shopping So my TO DO list for tomorrow is: Order photos @ Photobox 3 hours ironing clean bunk bed bedroom scrap area crop money Shopping list for Mutsch Trips for Mutsch & Gabi E-mail Sports Rehab (exam date) Dark Wash Acupuncture Library There will be more on there, I am sure... And I am probably able to get some of the stuff done tonight (e-mails).

Yep, it's on my days off for a change, and I quite like a couple of things ... LOVE the DCWV Far East Album ... may have a look for that at Ally Pally in September. So that's what's going to be on the "alternative" channel today. Not too tempted to buy anything from QVC as I have to save my pennies for Ally Pally, but think I may have to extend my shopping list. So far my list comprises: Banana Frog Stamps "Postage" Banana Frog Stamps "Calendar" Blonde Moments (extra thick?) embossing powder/s Blonde Moments Pearl Pigment/s DCWV "Old World" paper stack (12x12) Have to stick to the list this time though ... don't want to spend TONS of money again like last year! Not with a nice cruise coming up the week after (and I still have to figure out what trip packages we want to do!). PS: Yes I can do blogging while scanning the Junior forms... ;) It's called "MULTITASKING" ... ;)

Got a lot to do today (and actually until Saturday) ... let's see what I got on my list: White Wash I White Wash II White Wash III Register new Junior Players (paper & e-mail) Clear Scrap Area Crop money update Pack Senior Jerseys & Pants E-mail Sports Rehab & Education (date for next exam) Shopping list for Mutsch (to bring from Germany) Trips for Mutsch & Gabi while here (??) Cook dinner That's only the "have to do's" for today ... Not sure if I get a chance to do some "want to do's" in as well.... So far I managed: White Wash I (washed & hung up) 1/2 White Wash II (in the washing machine just now) 1/2 Junior Wolves applications (signed/dated/verified, currently scanning and then have to send the e-mail and letter) Put on a nice White Granary bread in bread maker Will see how much I have to carry over to tomorrow's TO DO list (hopefully will be able to present a couple more "TADAAAAs" though before tonight! ;) )

Slight delicate topic I'd say, but hey, who cares :) ! I have been reading up about the Mooncup for a while, have been checking Fertility Friends and UKS for comments/reviews and decided to buy one for me after our m/c. Trial run was beginning July and it all went fine, even though it takes some time to get used to it and I am still learning how to insert it properly. Now, my period came a couple of days early this month, and sod's law just arranged it to appear on the trip to Merseyside (Birkenhead)!!! Did have only 1 tampon with me - which I left on the bus. So had to ask the only other female on the road trip - and she had fortunately some tampons with her, but considering she's very willowy it was only the smallest size.... :o Now THAT works for an endo sufferer ... NOT!!! Funny thing was that I felt totally uncomfortable .. even with the mini size. Crampier than in July, and just expecting leaks all the time. But hey, I survived ... and was totally happy to be abl...

Book 7 of HP ("Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows"). LOVED the book ... :) Quite nice to have so many answers to questions coming up as well... As I am not sure who of the people reading my blog still have to finish the book I will not get into more details though. Went to Costco today with Heather & Faith, and apart from the longer bus trip (Romanes & Paterson's had a fire and all buses who usually run along Princes Street went along Queen Street .. poor Scott .. ;) I'm sure they will find another shop for him to earn some money though... :D ) it was nice ... bought some Body Creams (cheaper than at The Body Shop), 2 bigger bottles of Sweet Chilli Sauce and 5x2 1/2 Ciabattas. Nothing noteworthy on the scrapping/crafting front though ... and they don't seem to have my American bread mixes at the moment ... :( Got a nagging headache on the back of my head (tension of upper fibers of Trapezius I'd guess) and probably going to bed early-ish. And to f...