My Life's Ingredients

I know … been bad with keeping the blog up, but lots of things were going on (injuries etc), here’s me hoping that I will be a more regular blogger over the next couple of months. ;) But just wanted to give a quick “heads up” (after posting on Facebook and the Wolves Twitter …. Edinburgh Wolves are SCOTTISH DIVISION 2 CHAMPS!!! :) Wolves HQ (i.e. Doug and me) have not been down to Shropshire with the team for the game as Doug has an implementation weekend and has to be on call. But I’ve been getting updated by Cal and was able to update our tweets as well. Well done, Wolves – I am proud of you. Now on to get things sorted for the playoff home game … phew!

Still feeling "gunky" ... all that mucus in my nose and throat does NOT make me feel like wanting to do anything. Couple of snags from the weekend: Broke the screen of my small camera somehow (has a crack and therefore LCD screen is broken) and the Clansmen @ Mavericks game was called off due to the heavy rain this week... :( Won't see my Clan until 13th now. :o We had a good turnout at the Wolves Rookie Day though (50 guys!) and lots of athletes, too. From this Sunday we're going to have 3 Sundays of "Football School" - i.e. teaching the fundamentals of American Football. Let's hope that lots of the Rookies will come back and join the Wolfpack! :) Junior training was good, too - they have been waiting desperately for training, I assume - we had 12 kids down (10 returning and 2 rookies) with a couple of guys not able to make it. Things are looking up there for the Wolfcubs... ;) Went to see the inlaws after training & shopping and it was go...

Sitting here, still with my sinusitis, and am just feeling bleh! Decided against going to my 2nd Ceroc Class in Edinburgh because of the stuffy nose/head, and it's probably for the better, as I need to be fighting fit for a football-filled weekend (well... at least be OK to survive ... fighting fit at the moment is a bit much I think!!). DH is upstairs, sleeping ... his Miami Dolphins are playing this night (1:30am - 4:30am or so) and he has to go to work tomorrow... I'm staying up and see if I can watch at least half the game. ;) I've got lots to catch up with, am TOTALLY behind with Shimelle's class, and haven't started on Jessica Sprague's new free class, "Holidays in hand". Something I am probably going to catch up with tomorrow. As for the weekend ... (American) Football will be back in full force over the next month - The Edinburgh Wolves have their ROOKIE TRYOUT DAY on Saturday. Junior Wolves have their 1st training session before Xmas on Sunda...

2 days behind ... oops! But had 2 very busy days, with getting the house tidy enough for lots of friends coming over for the Wolves Game Day Team Meal yesterday evening for Bonfire Night. Got that sorted, went food shopping yesterday and also bought the last bits for DH's birthday pressie which I still have to do during my days off next week! :o  Should have enough time though. :) Managed to make 2 batches of cheesecake brownies (one for the Clansmen game on Sunday, and one for the Bonfire Night Party yesterday) and pasta salad - again for the Bonfire night. Had 5 people calling off but the house was still full, and we had lots of FUN, good food (everyone brought something - quite an interesting mix of dishes!!), very good company ... and we even managed to do a little brain storming on how to improve the gameday experience for our fans in 2010! And DH had fun setting off the fireworks ... first time in his life! :)  The garden shows a few signs from yesterday (there'...

I just had a look at this year's team photo from training camp ... and then looked at the "official" team photo 2009. And I can safely say ... from the squad who went to Fordell Firs for training camp (ok, that wasn't the full squad, but think I can safely say it's the "core squad") we only had 1 guy leaving. Like the odds, and then add the fact that we have about doubled that squad ... ;) NICE!!! Looking into playing around with photos a bit this week, maybe learning a bit more of Photoshop stuff. Official Wolves Squad 2009 photo (with again not everyone registered with us included... ;) ) is below ... I'll post the Training Camp photo tomorrow or so. Training camp photo now here... :)

It's quite funny ... was thinking how many North American Players we had through the years at the Wolves ... Charles "Chuck" Avison, Michael "Church" Churchward, Josh Houk, Andrew "Drew" Foster, Sean Mullen, Aaron Karlen (the first one??), Paul "Fergie" Ferguson, Jonathan Sherman plus coaches Jon Bastian and Brian Belcher. A North American Wolves Players/Coaches Alumni reunion would be just soooo great! It's weird how you can get used to people who are stepping into your life for just a couple of months up to 2 years ... I am really missing the lads!!

CRS (Central Registration System) for the league is back again and I am currently going through all the application forms for BAFL since yesterday and scan the ones I hadn't scanned before (like all the influx from May onwards I think!!). Also realised that I have forgotten paperwork at JKC so will have to provide that next Monday for Debbie who's handling the application process now. Most forms (due to tons of rookies joining) are 3 pages and I think I am currently scanning application #72? Ok, I have scanned about 35 before May, but still! :) And that's only for the Senior Wolves!!! Juniors are next. :o Then off to post office to get it sent to CRS. Hoping to do some scrapping tonight. :)

I am still totally knackered - yesterday was a looong day again, with Junior game in the morning and Seniors kicking off against the Manchester Titans at 2:30pm. I had agreed with management that I would like to get time off "behind the scenes" duties from 12pm onwards so I could give my full attention to taping, giving DTM (Deep tissue massage) etc, so this time I missed watching our Juniors playing against the Clyde Valley Falcons. This was a bonus game (i.e. outwith the tournaments and as such won't be counted for the standings) and with the beginning of the summer holidays we had depleted numbers and several (if not all) players were playing both ways. BUT the final result was 56 - 19, and that's against one of the top 2 Scottish Junior Teams. Because of our squad being nearly all rookies to the sport this year - we have graduated our star players to the Forth Valley Fusion this season - and our juniors being smaller than the West coast guys and even Invernes...

(imagine me doing the "T" sign for the Refs)... :) 3 games in 3 weeks can drain the life out of you. Add to that a Junior tournament (i.e. 3 games in one day, but obviously shorter than senior games) and an impaled leg, 3x sunburn/sun strokes and that's about that. :o *I*AM*SHATTERED* My face is totally red, my legs were jelly yesterday after the game and for whatever reason my bad leg compensates for the pulling skin in front with sore calf muscles at the end of the day! Would all feel better if we'd actually won yesterday ... or not lost at such a small margin/with just seconds in the game. :o Well... so I decided to take TIME OUT today ... no housework (will do stuff tomorrow). I am currently catching up with SKY+ series and want to do some scrapping later. The only thing I do "work wise" will be sending some e-mails for the Wolves and scan/e-mail the roster sheets. Plus checking on Paulie's jersey... ...We decided to play in white yesterday due to t...

First Wolves game of the season ... and not a good result. However, despite key players missing due to circumstances (and in this case it was some linemen) we managed to fill a bus with around 49 (?) people over the journey (with a pick up/drop off at Southwaite Service Station). It's a scary thing, because in the past our travelling squad was around 35 plus non-playing staff... :o I think we'll have to speak to Park's to get a bigger bus for the other away games???? :o The day started early at 5:45am which meant only 5 hours 45 mins sleep ... YAWN!! Fortunately we had most stuff already packed and in the car, so it was just getting the food in the cool bag, breakfast, a quick download of e-mails and then away. We arrived at 6:45am at Meadowbank where most of our players already gathered and had been to McD's for breakfast (no surprise there). Bus arrived in time, we moved the kit and settled down to pick up more players at Livingston - with our usual suspect being l...

View Larger Map LOVE IT!! :) And then in the stadium ... our pitch markings!!! :) Unfortunately you can't make out the "Wolves" in red on the home sideline (close to the stands) ... ah well, something to look into for this/next season. View Larger Map

I've just perforated 40 sheets of season tickets (i.e. 200 tickets) which I've stamped yesterday with the new Wolves lid stamp. Still got 60 more sheets to stamp & perforate, but it's a beginning!! :) The production line will now go downstairs to AP to cut & staple the season tickets. Well.. I'm off to the gym in a bit - will take the car (even though it's not far) to give it a bit of a drive and to see how the battery is holding up. Then back to more stamping... and perforating! :)

Wolves Photo Stamps Originally uploaded by Wolves05 Today's photo is of 2 (of 5) custom made stamps (courtesy of Dimension Fourth Ltd ) - they show the Wolves Logo (which we have as decals) and the Wolves helmet (I've got the both facing the other way as well) plus the official Wolves Logo as well. They are the first "photo" stamps (photo like) I have and they are looking fab! Roy and Ally have done a FAB job on that. Done lots of Wolves paper work after phoning the league to figure out about temporary applications - and then had to sign, scan and save about 25 forms (Seniors and Juniors) ... and then add the details into a spreadsheet. Want to use a database again this year but am not sure if I should go for OpenOffice or Access??

Didn't really happen at our house today. I didn't have any of the Christmas Decos down from the loft - just not tuned in yet to Christmas, because of the late holiday in Florida I think. Anyway, got up very early, had breakfast and then we drove to Jack Kane for 9.15am for the Junior Wolves training. It was -4 degrees when we left the house!!! Stayed cool throughout the day, I believe the warmest it got was 2 degrees for a bit. :o After Junior training we had the adult training ... we had 30 (!!!) rookies down with about 26 of our veterans. Was quite a good sight to see so many kitting up for the Wolves - let's see how many will stay on. :) I've been over to Dobbies during training, hoping to get some of the Christmas coloured Brads from Dovecraft and the Big Bite for the crop, but they didn't have either. Still ended up buying some bird suet stuff & feeder and a new Poinsettia for me (in a nice red bowl with greenery). Dinner was nice Haggis Neeps & Tattie...

Well... something like that! :) We have our Tryouts on Sunday for the 2009 season - and we actually got a video done for it. Well... kinda. :) And we are on the Evening News Website with it. So, if anyone is interested in trying out football - come along on Sunday to Meadowbank Stadium, registration is at 11am with the tryouts starting at 12pm. Indoor trainers and T'shirt/Shorts is all you need to bring with you. :)

After the last home game on 26 July which we lost, we were still in the run for the Playoff spot. However, due to our loss the only way was by us winning our last game of the (regular) season on 16 August against the Manchester Titans , and the Lancashire Wolverines losing their remaining games ... including the Glasgow Tigers , who struggled with injuries and of course the Chester Romans , a Div 1 team who still had to win a game this season (again, struggling due to injuries). Now ... last week we heard the first sweet news ... The Titans won against the Wolverines. And today, after senior training, DH was told that Glasgow WON against the Wolverines today!!! ... This was confirmed by one of the refs who were down at Lancashire. It sounds like a freak storm to me ... unbelievable ... but we're still in the run for the Playoffs!!! AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!! ;D Now ... I just need the Romans to find their feet ... and of course our team keeping their heads in the game next week! *S*C*A*R*Y*

Here we go again!!! WAHEY!!!! One of our Rookies got the BAFL Player of the Week (week 15) !!! YOU GO, "G"!!!

There you go... finally!! Left several pages empty after the official league Award print so I could add approx. 2 pix each of our remaining 3 games plus maybe awards night pics? And the 2008 team photo as well. PS: Al said yesterday that's the probably the best present he ever got. Well... there you go! :)

WOLVES WIN BAFL PLAYER OF THE WEEK (WEEK 13) Just while we're here (and so I can keep track of it!!) ... and it's not because Allan is our lodger. ;)

I actually got some scrapping and card making done in the last couple of weeks! SHOCK, HORROR!! ;) And hope I'll get more done soon, but with the Wolves Senior AND Junior season already on, I doubt there will be much time. :o So here it goes ... I've done a WOLVES layout again!! After scrapping at crops only Wolves photos in 2003/04 I haven't touched them much since 2006 I think. But I am planning o n d oing more on that subject, probably starting with this year's photos and w ork my way back to 2004. I s till have to add the jour nalling and the 2nd part of the title (Liz from the crop didn't have her Lollipop Number Dies with her in May) but will get that done soon. :) Then I've been preparing a blank wedding LO for a member of Dani's Forum in Germany - it's agreed in a little group of ladies who are in the same Circle Journal. :) We all kept it to the same colour scheme with beige as the background and then either green or dark red as contras t....